n. One that fishes, as a person or ship engaged in fishing: “Her son-in-law was a splendid fisher. One day he caught a beautiful big fish” (James Joyce). |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
n. 1. A carnivorous mammal (Martes pennanti) of northern North America, having thick, dark-brown fur. 2. The fur of this animal. In both senses also called pekan. [Possibly alteration (influenced by FISHER1, although the animal is not known to prey on fish) either of a French dialectal form (as used by early French fur traders in North America) akin to Walloon ficheau, polecat, and Picard fissau, fissieu, polecat, or of Dutch (as in used in New Netherland) fissauw, polecat (from Middle Dutch fitsau, fissau, from Walloon ficheau), all ultimately from Vulgar Latin *vissiō, silent fart, stench, from Latin vissīre, to fart softly, of imitative origin.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.