Crossword clues for fishwife
fishwife
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Fishwife \Fish"wife`\, n.
A fishwoman.
A woman who abusively scolds other people, often using coarse or vulgar language.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
n. 1 A woman who sells or works with fish. (This is another name for a female fishmonger.) 2 (context pejorative English) A vulgar, abusive or nagging woman with a loud, unpleasant voice. 3 (context Geordie pejorative English) Term of abuse, usually directed at women, implying lack of personal hygiene.
WordNet
n. someone who sells fish [syn: fishmonger]
[also: fishwives (pl)]
Wikipedia
A fishwife, fish-fag or fishlass is a woman who sells fish. In this context, the word wife means woman rather than married woman. This usage stems from Old English wif (woman) and is similar to the German Weib, also meaning "woman" (nowadays rarely used and usually in a pejorative sense).
Often the wives and daughters of fishermen, fishwives were notoriously loud and foul-mouthed, as noted in the expression, To swear like a fishwife. One reason for their outspokenness is that their wares were highly perishable and so lost value if not sold quickly.
Fishwives in fishing villages such as Cullercoats and Newhaven were noted for their beauty, hardiness and industry and were celebrated by artists and royalty.
Fishwife was a punk rock band from San Diego, California, which existed from 1990 to 1993. Consisting of Ryan Foxe (vocals), Matt Ohlin (bass guitar), Gar Wood (guitar), and Chris Prescott (drums), the group was known for its dissonant mathcore sound characteristic of the San Diego punk scene of the time, their often humorous lyrics, and for Foxe's wild onstage antics. Fishwife broke up in 1993 when Ryan Foxe moved to New York City to pursue school. Prescott, Ohlin, and Wood subsequently formed the band Tanner, and Ryan Foxe later sang in the garage rock group the Let Downs.
Usage examples of "fishwife".
Betty had drawn back, and now, as the fishwife spoke, in a voice which she tried to render melodious, though it ended only in a croak, the Little Captain seemed to urge her chums away.
She looked back toward the sand dunes, possibly for a sight of the old fishwife, but no one was in view.
It was bad enough to have him touch Amy, and bad enough for the old fishwife to clasp Betty in her horrid arms, but Betty thought she surely would die if that man approached her.
A split moment of delay bared him to a downward slice that opened his gambeson like a fishwife gutting a herring and streaked a stinging cut along the line of his ribs.
Suddenly she was thrusting past the guards, shouldering and pushing her way through the crowd, using her elbows like a fishwife, her only thought to reach him.
The fact was that though there were about two hundred bullheads in the tank, Grandpa was heavily in debt to the fishwife with whom they dealt.
If the fishwife agreed not to hold back all the money everything would be fine.
Looking for his fishwife, the boy walked past baskets swarming with light-green lobsters.
Ten times the fishwife picked up the brass pans of her balance all covered with fish scales, and ten times she threw them back into the basket of flat-fish.
The fishwife gesticulated rapidly with her fleshy hands in their black knitted mitts, not forgetting to hold her little finger out at an elegant angle.
The fishwife gave the customer the bullheads and threw the coins into her moneybag.
When the fishwife finished shouting she coolly transferred the bullheads from the tank to her basket, deftly counting them off by tens.
I put my hands on my hips like any common fishwife ready to deliver a round scolding.
Mayhap he thought I had been nigh on to throwing a fit, like some fishwife in Dover, and was gratified at my restraint.
You were shouting at her like a fishwife about her coat and your mother and assorted other topics.