Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Kettle Of Fish

Definition: Kettle Of Fish

Kettle Of Fish

Noun

1. Informal terms for a difficult situation; "he got into a terrible fix"; "he made a muddle of his marriage".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 


Specialty Definitions: Kettle Of Fish

DomainDefinitions

Literature

Kettle of Fish A fte-champtre in which salmon is the chief dish provided. In these pic-nics, a large caldron being provided, the party select a place near a salmon river. Having thickened some water with salt to the consistency of brine, the salmon is put therein and boiled; and when fit for eating, the company partake thereof in gipsy fashion. Some think the discomfort of this sort of pic-nic gave rise to the phrase "A pretty kettle of fish." (See Kittle Of Fish.)
"The whole company go to the waterside today to eat a kettle of fish."- Sir Walter Scott: St. Ronan's Well, xii. Source: Brewer's Dictionary.

Slang in 1811

KETTLE OF FISH. When a person has perplexed his affairs in general, or any particular business, he is said to have made a fine kettle of fish of it. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Synonyms: Kettle Of Fish

Synonyms: fix (n), hole (n), jam (n), mess (n), muddle (n), pickle (n). (additional references)

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Synonyms within Context: Kettle Of Fish

ContextSynonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).

Difficulty

Scrape, hobble, slough, quagmire, hot water, hornet's nest; sea of troubles, peck of troubles; pretty kettle of fish; pickle, stew, imbroglio, mess, ado; false position.

Disorder

Turmoil; ferment; (agitation); to-do, trouble, pudder, pother, row, rumble, disturbance, hubbub, convulsion, tumult, uproar, revolution, riot, rumpus, stour, scramble, brawl, fracas, rhubarb, fight, free-for-all, row, ruction, rumpus, embroilment, melee, spill and pelt, rough and tumble; whirlwind; bear garden, Babel, Saturnalia, donnybrook, Donnybrook Fair, confusion worse confounded, most admired disorder, concordia discors; Bedlam, all hell broke loose; bull in a china shop; all the fat in the fire, diable a' quatre, Devil to pay; pretty kettle of fish; pretty piece of work, pretty piece of business.

Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Kettle Of Fish

Specialty definitions using "kettle of fish": First Stroke is Half the Battle ♦ KETTLE OF FISH, Kittle of Fish. (references)

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Commercial Usage: Kettle Of Fish

DomainTitle

Theater & Movies

  • Fish: Kettle of Fish - Video Collection (reference)

    (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Expressions: Kettle Of Fish

Expressions using "kettle of fish": a fine kettle of fish ♦ a pretty kettle of fish ♦ pretty kettle of fish. Additional references.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Kettle Of Fish

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.
 
ExpressionFrequency
per Day

kettle of fish

10
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Kettle Of Fish

Language Translations for "kettle of fish"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

German

  

das ist eine schöne Bescherung (that's a pretty kettle of fish). (various references)

   

Hebrew 

  

עסק ביש (a pretty pass, nasty business, pretty kettle of fish). (various references)

   

Hungarian

  

szép kis história (a pretty kettle of fish, pretty kettle of fish), szép kis eset (pretty kettle of fish), szép kis ügy (a pretty kettle of fish, pretty kettle of fish). (various references)

   

Pig Latin

  

ettlekay ofay ishfay

   

Portuguese

  

caldeira (boiler, steam-boiler). (various references)

   

Romanian

  

situaţie albastrã (a pretty kettle of fish), mare comedie (a pretty kettle of fish, that beats all devil, well I never), frumoasã treabã (a fine kettle of fish, that is a pretty business), ce dandana (a fine kettle of fish), încurcãturã (abashment, confusion, difficulty, encumbrance, entanglement, fix, hash, involution, involvement, loss, lost, mess, mire, mishmash, morass, perplexity, pretty kettle of fish, puzzle, scrape, stew, tangle, trouble, upset). (various references)

   

Spanish

  

en buen berenjenal nos hemos metido (this a pretty kettle of fish). (various references)

   

Swedish

  

en snygg historia (a fine kettle of fish), en skön röra (a fine kettle of fish). (various references)

   

Thai

  

สถานการ"์ที่ยุ่งเหยิง (คำไม่เป็นทางการ). (various references)

   

Turkish

  

karışıklık (bedlam, bungle, cataclysm, chaos, clamor, clamour, clutter, commotion, complexity, complication, confusion, disarrangement, disorder, disorderliness, disorganization, disturbance, dogs dinner, embroilment, ferment, fermentation, fray, frenzy, fuss, fuss and kerfufle, grab bag, havoc, helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, huddle, hugger mugger, huggermugger, hurly burly, imbroglio, indiscrimination, intricacy, involution, jungle, kerfufle, maziness, mess, mishmash, misrule, mix, mix up, muddle, muss, perturbation, pie, pother, pretty kettle of fish, promiscuity, Ravel, riot, rough and tumble, ruckus, ruction, snafu, snarl, snarl up, stir, swirl, tangle, topsyturvy, topsyturvydom, tumble, turbidity, turbulence, unrest, upheaval, upset, wooliness, woolliness), ayıkla pirincin taşını (here is a pretty mess, pretty kettle of fish, we are in the deuce of a mess). (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Anagrams: Kettle Of Fish

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Words within the letters "e-e-f-f-h-i-k-l-o-s-t-t"

-4 letters: heftiest, loftiest.

-5 letters: eoliths, etoiles, felsite, fettles, folkies, folkish, hoelike, hokiest, holiest, hostile, kettles, kittles, leftest, lefties, leftish, leftist, liefest, lithest, litotes, sheltie, shtetel, skiffle, skittle, sleekit, teleost, thistle, toelike, toffees, toffies, toilets.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

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Alternative Orthography: Kettle Of Fish


Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

4B 65 74 74 6C 65      4F 66      46 69 73 68

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

        

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01001011 01100101 01110100 01110100 01101100 01100101 00100000 01001111 01100110 00100000 01000110 01101001 01110011 01101000

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#75 &#101 &#116 &#116 &#108 &#101 &#32 &#79 &#102 &#32 &#70 &#105 &#115 &#104

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

004B 0065 0074 0074 006C 0065      004F 0066      0046 0069 0073 0068

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

45718686787124972240758574

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INDEX

1. Definition
2. Synonyms
3. Crosswords
4. Usage: Commercial 		5. Expressions
6. Expressions: Internet
7. Translations: Modern
8. Anagrams 		9. Orthography
10. Bibliography


  

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

 

 

 

 

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woordeboek, fjalor, ‏معجم, ‏قاموس, diccionariu, речник, diccionari, diksyonario, diksinario, 字典, gérlyver, slovník, ordbog, woordenboek, shimiyuc p'anca, orðabók, orðbók, dictionnaire, wurdboek, wörterbuch, λεξικό, אוצר מילים, szótár, uqausiit tukingit, dizionario, 字引 , じい, じびき, じて", ディクショナリー , じり", じしょ, '"かい, ディクショナリ , 사 , dizionari, recnik, fockleyr, dikshonario, słownik, dicionário, dicţionar, dicziunari, словарь, lolomi fefiloi, foclair, abardair, faclair, briathrachan, pukuntau, leksikon, rečnik, vocabbulariu, diccionario, sí-chazamagâma, ordbok, lexikon, พจนานุกรม, sözlük, ansiklopedik sözlük, словник, довідник, có tính chất sách vở, geirlyfr, geiriadur, for dictionary;
definisie, qartësi, përcaktim, saktësi, ‏الوضوحية في الشيء, ‏حد, ‏تحديد, ‏تعريف, ‏التحديد, ‏الإيضاحية, яснота, сила, очертания, дефиниция, 定義 , 定义, definice, deskriptordefinition, definitie, määritelmä, définition, ορισμός, "'"ר", "'בל", meghatározás, definíció, definizione, 確定 , ディーゼル電気車 , デ'ドロ酢酸 , デフィニション , ディフィニション , ていぎ, かくてい, 의, geyrid, meenaghey, keeayllaght, baght, definishon, definição, definiţie, determinare, definire, определение, definicija, definición, definition, açıklama, belirleme, belirtme, kesinleştirme, tanım, tarif, seçiklik, tanımlama, чіткість, тлумачення, виразність, визначення, дефініція, ясність, чітка чутність, sự định rõ, sự định nghĩa, lời định nghĩa sự định, diffiniad, darnodiad, for definition;
vertaling, transferim, transmetim, ‏ترجمة من لغة أجنبية للغة الأم, ‏ترجمة, ‏إفتتان, транслация, огъване, превод, предаване, поддаване, тълкуване, превеждане, 翻译, překlad, oversættelse, translatie, taajuusmuutos, translaatio, traduction, oersetting, Übersetzung, μετάφραση, תור'מ ות, תר'ום, "עתק", "עתק, fordítás, traduzione, 翻訳 , へい"ういどう, やくしょ, やくしゅつ, "うどく, ほ"やく, トランスレーション , やくじゅつ, ほ"やくしょ, 번역, tradukshon, tradução, translaţie, tãlmãcire, traducere, сдвиг, трансляция, перемещение, перевод, tumačenje, traducción, översättning, tercüme, процес перекладу, переклад, пояснення, переміщення, sự dịch, sự biến th nh sự giải thích, trosiad, for translation;
Duits, Duitser, Duitse taal, Germaan, gjerman, ‏ضرب من الرقص, ‏جرماني, ‏المانية, ‏الماني, ‏اللغة الألمانية, роден, германски, немски език, немски, немец, готически, германец, 德語 , 德语, 德文 , 德國 , nìmecký, nìmec, tysker, Duitse, týskur, týskt, týskari, saksalainen, Allemand, Dútsk, Deutsche, Deutsch, "ερμανός, gjermanisht, 'רמ י, 'רמ ית, német, þjóðverji, þýskur, GearmÚnach, GearmÚinis, tedesco, ジプシー音楽 , ジャーマン , 독일, todesch, Germaanagh, Garmane, Germaanish, Carmane, aleman, Niemiec, niemiecki, alemão, alemand, neamţ, немецкий, Siamani, germanski, alemán, Tudesku, Doysri, mjeremani, mdachi, sí-Jalimáne, tysk, เยอรมัน, าษาเยอรมัน, Alman, німкеня, німецький, німець, $sisters german$ chị em ruột, $cousin german$ anh chị em con chú bác ruột, sister, Almaenwr, isiJalimane, iliJalimane, iJalimane, for German;
Jood, Hebreeus, Israeliet, hebraishte, ‏يهودي, ‏عبري, ‏اليهودية, ‏اللغة العبرية, ‏العبرية, Hebréu, иврит, древен жител на юдея, юдейски, израилтянин, евреин, староеврейски, староеврейски език, юдей, 西伯来, 希伯來語 , hebrejský, hebrejka, hebrejec, hebrejština, joods, Hebreeuws, hebraiskt, juutalainen, hébreu, Hebrieusk, hebräisch, hebräer, εβραϊκόσ, εβραϊκά, εβραίοσ, עברית, עברי, zsidó, héber, izraelita, Eabhrais, ebraico, ebreo, ヘブライ語 , ヘブライ", Ewagh, Ew, Ewnish, hudiu, hebraico, hebreu, ebrèu, limba ebraicã, izraelit, evreu, evreiesc, ebraic, еврейский, еврей, древнееврейский, древнееврейский язык, Eperu, hibru, hebreo, dyu, Myahudi, Yahudi, hebreiska, hebreisk, jude, ชาวฮิบรู (ปัจจุบันคือประเทศอิสราเอลและปาเลสไตน์), าษาฮิบรู (ปัจจุบันคือประเทศอิสราเอลและปาเลสไตน์), musevi, ibranice, ibrani, іудей, старо"врейська мова, старо"врейський, іврит, "врейський, "врей, người Hê-brơ, Hebraeg, Hebreaidd, for Hebrew;
Hongaars, Hongaar, hungarez, ‏الهنغاري, ‏مجري, ‏هنغاري, ‏المجري, ‏اللغة الهنغارية, Húngaru, унгарски език, унгарски, унгарец, Hungaryan, 匈牙利語 , 匈牙利语, maïarský, maïar, maïarština, ungarer, Hongaarse, ungarskt, unkarilainen, hongrois, Hongaarsk, ungar, Ούγγρος, "ו 'רי, magyar, ungherese, 헝가리, Ungaarish, Ungaaragh, Węgier, ongrés, ungureşte, ungur, limba maghiarã, unguresc, maghiar, limba ungarã, венгр, венгерский, mađarski, mađar, mađarski jezik, húngaro, ungrare, ชาวฮังการี, macarca, macar, угорська мова, угорка, угорський, угорець, người Hung-ga-ri tiếng Hung-ga-ri, for Hungarian;
Portugees, portugez, portugalisht, ‏اللغة البرتغالية, ‏البرتغالية, ‏البرتغالي, португалски език, португалски, португалец, Potuges, 葡萄牙语, 葡萄牙人 , 葡萄牙語 , portugalský, portugiser, portugisiskt, portugalilainen, portugais, Portugeesk, portugiesisch, πορτογάλοσ, ορτογάλος, portugál, Portaingéilis, portoghese, ポルトガル語 , ポルトガル", 포르투갈, Portiugish, Portiugagh, portugues, Portugalczyk, português, portughez, португальский, portugalski jezik, portugalski, portugalac, portugués, Mreno, si-Putúkezi, portugis, portekiz, Portekízlí, portekizli, portekizce, португальська мова, португальський, португалець, người B"-đ o-nha tiếng B"-đ o-nha, for Portuguese;
Roemeen, rumun, Rumanu, румънски език, румънски, румънец, Romanyan, 罗马尼亚语, rumunský, rumunština, rumæner, Roemeens, rumenskt, romanialainen, roumain, Roemeensk, rumäne, ρουμανόσ, Ρουμάνος, román, rumeno, 루마니아, Roomainagh, romeno, romanés, român, румын, румынский, rumunski, rumunski jezik, rumano, rumänsk, румунська мова, румун, румунський, румунка, for Romanian;
Spaans, Spaanse taal, spanjoll, ‏اللغة الأسبانية, ‏الأسبانية, ‏أسباني, испански език, испански, espanyoles, Espanyol, 西班牙语, 西班牙文 , 西班牙語 , španìlský, španìlština, spanskt, espanjalainen, espagnol, Spaansk, spanisch, ισπανικά, ισπανικόσ, ισπανοί, karaiñe'êmegua, ספר"ית, ספר"י, spanyol, SpÚinnis, spagnolo, スペイン語 , スパイ罪 , スペイン", スパニッシュ , 스페인, Spaainagh, Spaainish, spañó, espanhol, espanhòl, spaniolesc, spanioleşte, spaniol, испанский, Sipaniolo, španski jezik, španski, español, spanska språk, spansk, ispanyollar, ispanyolca, ispanyol, іспанська мова, іспанський, for Spanish;
Sweeds, suedez, ‏اللغة السويدية, Suecu, шведски език, шведски, швед, Swedis, 瑞典語 , 瑞典语, švédský, švédština, Zweeds, svenskt, ruotsalainen, suédois, Sweedsk, schwedisch, σουηδικόσ, σουηδικά, svéd, sænskur, Sualainnis, svedese, スウェーデン語 , スウェーデン", 스웨덴, Soolynish, Soolynagh, suèc, шведский, švedski jezik, švedski, sueco, svensk, เกี่ยวกับคน าษาและวั'นธรรมของประเทศสวีเ"น, isveççe, isveç dili, isveç, Ísveçlí, шведська мова, шведський, người Thuỵ điển tiếng Thuỵ điển, for Swedish;
Tailandes, 泰國 , 泰文 , 泰国, 泰 , thailænder, Thailander, Thai, Thais, thailendskt, thaimaalainen, Thaïlandais, thailändisch, Thailänder, Ταϊλανδός· Ταϊλανδέζος, tailandese, 泰語 , たい", 타이 말, tailandês, tailandés, thailändare, ที่เกี่ยวกับประเทศไทย, าษาไทย, เกี่ยวกับคนไทย, คนไทย, Taylandlı, Tayland Dili, Tayland, Tai Dili, Та"ць, Тайська Мова, Тайський, for Thai;
Turks, turk, ‏تركي أحد أبناء تركيا, ‏اللغة التركية, Turcu, турски, турски език, Turko, 土耳其, 土耳其語 , tureètina, turecký, turkist, turkkilainen, turque, turc, Turksk, türkisch, τούρκικοσ, טורקי, török, Yn Turkish, Turkagh, turcesc, турецкий, turski jezik, turski, turco, turkisk, türk, türkçe, турецька мова, турецький, tiếng Thổ nhĩ kỳ, for Turkish;