fishmonger
nounUK /ˈfɪʃˌmʌŋɡ.ə(ɹ)/
Etymology From Middle English fisshemonger; equivalent to fish + monger.
1
UK A person who sells fish.
- If he made transcendental distinctions, he fortified himself by drawing all his illustrations from sources disdained by orators and polite conversers; from mares and puppies; from pitchers and soup-ladles; from cooks and criers; the shops of potters, horse-doctors, butchers, and fishmongers.1850, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Plato; or, The Philosopher”, in Representative Men: Seven Lectures, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson and Company, […], →OCLC, page 58:
- And Susan, sure of this inevitable answer, would ask Cook to pop into the fishmonger for a nice bit of salmon, […]1931, Grace Hegger Lewis, Half a Loaf, H. Liveright, page 225:
- A nice woman at the fishmonger in Earl’s Court Road—she had to walk miles to find a fish shop—told her how to cook the fillets of plaice she bought.1990, Elizabeth Jane Howard, The Light Years, Simon and Schuster, published 1995, →ISBN, page 294:
1 more example
- Cornish peppered mackerel, smoked haddock, Scottish herring and pearl-white skate wings are all laid on a bed of crushed ice at the fishmonger.2007, Leslie Ann Bosher, To the Manor Drawn, Murdoch Books, →ISBN, page 157:
3
Archaic, Figuratively A pimp.
- Excellent well; you are a fishmonger.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
- Hyponyms
- fishmongeress, fishwife, fishwoman, piscatrix