See fish out of water in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for fish out of water meaning in English (5.9kB)
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "fr",
"2": "comme un poisson dans l'eau"
},
"expansion": "French comme un poisson dans l’eau",
"name": "cog"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "de",
"2": "wie ein Fisch im Wasser"
},
"expansion": "German wie ein Fisch im Wasser",
"name": "cog"
}
],
"etymology_text": "* Earliest recorded use: \"Fishes out of the Water\" (1613, Samuel Purchas, Pilgrimage).\n* Earliest use of metaphor by Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales: Prologue (1483) as \"fissh that is waterlees\".\nCompare also the antonymous French comme un poisson dans l’eau, German wie ein Fisch im Wasser.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "fishes out of water",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
},
{
"form": "fish out of water",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "fishes out of water",
"2": "fish out of water"
},
"expansion": "fish out of water (plural fishes out of water or fish out of water)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
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"Entry maintenance"
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"source": "w"
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"parents": [
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"Entry maintenance"
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"Entry maintenance"
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"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Japanese terms with redundant script codes",
"parents": [
"Terms with redundant script codes",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "People",
"orig": "en:People",
"parents": [
"Human",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1921, Edgar Wallace, chapter 2, in The Book of All-Power",
"text": "[I]nto this queer assembly, something of a fish out of water and wholly out of his element, strode Cherry Bim, that redoubtable man.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1942 May 25, “Sport: Pitcher Hits Ball”, in Time, retrieved 2016-10-02",
"text": "A pitcher at bat is usually considered such a fish out of water that he is expected to foul, ground or strike out.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1990 September 17, Larry Rohter, quoting Quincy Jones, “‘Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ Puts Rap in Mainstream”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
"text": "“The basis of this show is fish out of water,” said the executive producer, Quincy Jones, the music impresario who has never before put his name on a television series but whose work as producer of Michael Jackson's albums won him respect in Hollywood as a canny judge of public tastes.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2004 December 22, Jennifer Medina, “Housewives, Try This for Desperation”, in New York Times, retrieved 2016-10-02",
"text": "Many stay-at-home fathers find that they are fish out of water, too.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A person in unfamiliar and often uncomfortable surroundings."
],
"id": "en-fish_out_of_water-en-noun-eliY4WDY",
"links": [
[
"unfamiliar",
"unfamiliar"
],
[
"uncomfortable",
"uncomfortable"
],
[
"surroundings",
"surroundings"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) A person in unfamiliar and often uncomfortable surroundings."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "square peg in a round hole"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "af",
"lang": "Afrikaans",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "soos 'n vis op droë grond"
},
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "peix fora d'aigua"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "kuin kala kuivalla maalla"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "wie ein Fisch auf dem Trockenen"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "but less common"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "more usually sich fremd fühlen"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "sich nicht zu Hause fühlen"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "pesce fuor d'acqua"
},
{
"alt": "おかにあがったかっぱ",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "oka ni agatta kappa",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "陸に上がった河童"
},
{
"code": "ms",
"lang": "Malay",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "seperti rusa masuk kampung"
},
{
"code": "ms",
"lang": "Malay",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "bagai kerbau terkejut oleh gong"
},
{
"code": "ms",
"lang": "Malay",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "tak pernah masuk gelanggang bergung"
},
{
"code": "mt",
"lang": "Maltese",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "ħuta barra mill-ilma"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "como peixe fora d'água"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "como pez fuera del agua"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "en-au-fish out of water.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/88/En-au-fish_out_of_water.ogg/En-au-fish_out_of_water.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/En-au-fish_out_of_water.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"word": "fish out of water"
}
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "fr",
"2": "comme un poisson dans l'eau"
},
"expansion": "French comme un poisson dans l’eau",
"name": "cog"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "de",
"2": "wie ein Fisch im Wasser"
},
"expansion": "German wie ein Fisch im Wasser",
"name": "cog"
}
],
"etymology_text": "* Earliest recorded use: \"Fishes out of the Water\" (1613, Samuel Purchas, Pilgrimage).\n* Earliest use of metaphor by Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales: Prologue (1483) as \"fissh that is waterlees\".\nCompare also the antonymous French comme un poisson dans l’eau, German wie ein Fisch im Wasser.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "fishes out of water",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
},
{
"form": "fish out of water",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "fishes out of water",
"2": "fish out of water"
},
"expansion": "fish out of water (plural fishes out of water or fish out of water)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
"English idioms",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English terms with audio links",
"English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"English terms with quotations",
"Japanese terms with redundant script codes",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned",
"en:People"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1921, Edgar Wallace, chapter 2, in The Book of All-Power",
"text": "[I]nto this queer assembly, something of a fish out of water and wholly out of his element, strode Cherry Bim, that redoubtable man.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1942 May 25, “Sport: Pitcher Hits Ball”, in Time, retrieved 2016-10-02",
"text": "A pitcher at bat is usually considered such a fish out of water that he is expected to foul, ground or strike out.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1990 September 17, Larry Rohter, quoting Quincy Jones, “‘Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ Puts Rap in Mainstream”, in The New York Times, →ISSN",
"text": "“The basis of this show is fish out of water,” said the executive producer, Quincy Jones, the music impresario who has never before put his name on a television series but whose work as producer of Michael Jackson's albums won him respect in Hollywood as a canny judge of public tastes.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2004 December 22, Jennifer Medina, “Housewives, Try This for Desperation”, in New York Times, retrieved 2016-10-02",
"text": "Many stay-at-home fathers find that they are fish out of water, too.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A person in unfamiliar and often uncomfortable surroundings."
],
"links": [
[
"unfamiliar",
"unfamiliar"
],
[
"uncomfortable",
"uncomfortable"
],
[
"surroundings",
"surroundings"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) A person in unfamiliar and often uncomfortable surroundings."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "square peg in a round hole"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
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}
],
"sounds": [
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"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/88/En-au-fish_out_of_water.ogg/En-au-fish_out_of_water.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/En-au-fish_out_of_water.ogg",
"tags": [
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"text": "Audio (AU)"
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],
"translations": [
{
"code": "af",
"lang": "Afrikaans",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "soos 'n vis op droë grond"
},
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "peix fora d'aigua"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "kuin kala kuivalla maalla"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "wie ein Fisch auf dem Trockenen"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "but less common"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "more usually sich fremd fühlen"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "sich nicht zu Hause fühlen"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "pesce fuor d'acqua"
},
{
"alt": "おかにあがったかっぱ",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "oka ni agatta kappa",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "陸に上がった河童"
},
{
"code": "ms",
"lang": "Malay",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "seperti rusa masuk kampung"
},
{
"code": "ms",
"lang": "Malay",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "bagai kerbau terkejut oleh gong"
},
{
"code": "ms",
"lang": "Malay",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "tak pernah masuk gelanggang bergung"
},
{
"code": "mt",
"lang": "Maltese",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "ħuta barra mill-ilma"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "como peixe fora d'água"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
"word": "como pez fuera del agua"
}
],
"word": "fish out of water"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.