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(
f
(r)) Forms: 1 fiscere, 2 fixere, 3 fiscære, 3-4 fissar(e, -er, south. vyssare, vissere, 3-5 fisch-, fyschar(e, -er(e, (5 fecher, fychere), 4-6 fissh-, fyssher(e, (5 fysshyer, 6 fiszher), 4- fisher. [OE. fiscere, OFris. fisker, OS. fiskari (Du. visscher) = OHG. fiscâri (MHG. vischer, Ger. fischer), ON. fiskari (Sw. fiskare, Da. fisker):
OTeut. *fisk
rjo-, f. *fisko-z FISH n.1 Like other OTeut. ns. with this suffix it has become an agent-noun related to the vb.: see -ER1.]
1. a. One who is employed in catching fish. Now arch.; superseded in ordinary use by FISHERMAN.
c893 K. ÆLFRED Oros. i. i. 17
[
ær] huntan
ewicodon,
o
e fisceras,
oe fuel[er]as.
c1175 Lamb. Hom. 97 Petrus wes fixere.
1297 R. GLOUC. (1724) 265 Hys vyssares come to hym, & so gret won of fyss hym
bro
te.
1382 WYCLIF Isa. xix. 8 And mowrne shul the fissheres.
1553 EDEN Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 22 The inhabitantes are great fyshers on the sea.
1704 POPE Windsor For. 137 The patient fisher takes his silent stand, Intent, his angle trembling in his hand.
1758 Descr. Thames 227 Fishers distinguish their Herrings into six different sorts.
1851 KINGSLEY Song, Three fishers went sailing away to the West.
b. transf. and fig. (esp. after Matt. iv. 19).
c1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. iv. 19
Cume
æfter me, & ic do
æt yt beo manna fisceras.
a1300 Cursor M. 13325 (Cott.) Fra
is dai forth i sal
e ken for to be fissar god o men.
1663 COWLEY Ess. etc. (1669) 133 They found them Hunters and Fishers of wild creatures, they have made them Hunters and Fishers of their Brethren.
1664 H. MORE Apol. iii. §3 Who profess myself a Fisher for Philosophers, desirous to draw them to..the Christian Faith.
2. a. An animal that catches fish for food.
1562 W. BULLEIN Bk. Simples (1579) 78 Herones, Bitternes, [etc.]. These fowles be Fishers.
1576 FLEMING tr.
Caius' Dogs in Arb.
Garner III. 245 The Dog called the Fisher..seeketh for fish by smelling among rock and stone.
1823 BYRON Island IV. ii, The feather'd fishers of the solitude.
b. spec. The pekan or Pennant's marten (Mustela pennanti) of North America (also fisher marten, fisher weasel). Also, the fur of this animal.
1796 MORSE Amer. Geog. I. 200 The fisher has a general resemblance to the martin, but is considerably larger.
1879 M. M. B
ACKUS in
Encycl. Brit. IX. 838/1
Fisher, size, 15 by 30 inches..glossy dark and durable.
1882 BECK Draper's Dict.,
Fisher (fur), these skins are larger than sables, and the fur is longer and fuller.
1883 W. H. FLOWER in
Encycl. Brit. XV. 577/2
Mustela pennanti..the Pekan or Pennant's Marten, also called Fisher Marten.
3. A fishmonger. Obs.
a1400 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 353 No ffysshyere ne no pulter ne shal bygge ffysche ne pultrye [etc.]. 1582 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 420 Any fisher that occupieth any standinge or shoppe.
4. An implement used by tanners (see quot.).
1688 R. HOLME Armoury III. 350/2 The Fisher..is an Iron with Nett-work, made from side to side of it with strong Iron Wyers, with this the Bark is taken out of the Water.
1726 Dict. Rust. (ed. 3) s.v.
5. A fishing-boat; a vessel employed in fishing.
1864 THOREAU Cape Cod ix. (1894) 211 We saw countless sails of mackerel fishers abroad on the deep.
6. attrib. and Comb.: a. simple attrib., as fisher-bark, -house, -keel, -net, 
-pan, -ship, -stall, -town. b. appositive (= that is a fisher, belonging to the class of fishers), as fisher boy, -carl, -child, -folk, -girl, -people, -swain, -train, -wife, -woman. Also fisher's coat.
1862 H. MARRYAT Year in Sweden II. 341 The passage of small *fisher barks down to Carlskrona.
1621 LADY M. WROTH Urania 308 From a Run-away and poore *Fisher-boy he made me a King.
1867 SMYTH Sailor's Word-bk.,
Fisher-boys, the apprentices in fishing vessels.
1870 MORRIS Earthly Par. III.
IV. 212 A few rough *fisher-carles there were.
Ibid. 227 The *fisher children hand in hand.
1854 H. MILLER Sch. & Schm. xxii. (1857) 481 Some of our Cromarty *fisher-folk.
1888 Daily News 18 Dec. 3/6 Here fisherboys and *fishergirls..crowd the stage.
1525 LD. BERNERS Froiss. II. xlvii. 162 Without the towne there were certayne *fissher houses.
1870 MORRIS Earthly Par. III.
IV. 227 And *fisher-keel on fisher-keel The furrowed sand again did feel.
1601 HOLLAND Pliny II.
XIX. i. 4 Thread, passing good for to be twisted and knit into *fisher-nets.
1890 Daily News 15 Feb. 6/4 A black fisher-net dress trimmed..with well-imitated mimosa.
1535 COVERDALE Amos iv. 2 Youre posterite caried awaye in *fyssher pannes.
1885 Truth 28 May 848/2 *Fisherpeople hauling their boat through the surf.
1611 B
IBLE John xxi. 7 He girt his *fishers coate vnto him.
1614 Eng. Way to Wealth in
Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 235 Busses, bonadventures, or *fisher-ships.
1572 Nottingham Rec. IV. 145 A *fyssher stalle that Thomas Reve stans in.
1627 P. FLETCHER Apollyonists III. xxi, Those *fisher-swaynes..by full Jordan's wave.
1538 LELAND Itin. (1744) VII. 55 A lytle prety *Fyssher Town cawled Wyrkinton.
1647 CLARENDON Hist. Reb. VII. (1703) II. 306 In Dorset-shire..little fisher Towns, Poole and Lyme.
1725 POPE Odyss. XXII. 425 When by hollow shores the *fisher~train Sweep with their arching nets the hoary main.
1868 M. E. BRADDON Dead Sea Fr. xxxix, The rough fishermen and brawny *fisherwives.
1887 RUSKIN Præterita II vi. 200 A fisher-wife doll from Calais.
1895 Month Sept. 52 All the fisher-wives we dressed alike in short petticoats of blue stuff.
1816 SCOTT Antiq. xxvi.
note, The *fisherwomen..put in their claim.
1863 BATES Nat. Amazon ix. (1864) 258 The two dusky fisherwomen marched down to their canoe.
7. Special combs.: fisher-fish (see quot.); 
fisher's berry = fish-berry; fisher's folly, an angler's house in the country; fisher's-knot, a slip knot, the ends of which lie horizontally, and will not become untied (Davies); fisher's ring or seal = fisherman's ring. Also FISHER-BOAT, FISHERMAN.
1867 SMYTH Sailor's Word-bk.,
*Fisher-fish, a species of Remora, said to be trained by the Chinese to catch turtle.
1787 BEST Angling (ed. 2) 67
Coculus indicus..called also
baccæ piscatoriæ, *fisher's berries.
1638 R. BRATHWAIT Surv. Hist. 183 As one who had taken a surfeit of the City, h'as built himself a new *Fishers folly in the Countrey.
1611 MARKHAM Countr Content. I. x. (1668) 53 A *Fishers knot, which is your ordinary fast knots, foulded four times about, both under and above.
1741 Compl. Fam. Piece II. ii. 331 You may tie your Links together with the Fishers or Weavers Knot.
1689 Lond. Gaz. No. 2486/1 He afterwards broke the *Fishers Ring, and caused the Lead of the Bulls to be likewise broke.
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