fishy

Adjective

fishy (comparative fishier, superlative fishiest)

1. Of, from, or similar to fish.
   • What is that fishy odor?
   • The ſwifteſt Ship beneath with ſudden Chains / In mid Career the fiſhy Bank detains. / The Wind all uſeleſs in the Canvas roars, / In vain the Sailors tug the ſticking Oars. / Fixt as a Rock the ſteady Throng abides; / The Ship as anchor'd in her Harbour rides.1722, Oppian; [William Diaper and John Jones, transl.], “The Fourth Book of Oppian’s Halieuticks”, in Oppian’s Halieuticks: Of the Nature of Fishes and Fishing of the Ancients in V. Books. Translated...

   Synonyms:

   fishlike, fishly, ichthyic, piscine, fishen, fishish

2. (figuratively) Suspicious; inspiring doubt.
   • I don't trust him; his claims seem fishy to me.
   • Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter III, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   dodgy, dubious, dicey, iffy, questionable, shady, shonky, sketchy

3. (LGBTQ slang) Of a drag queen or a trans woman: appearing very feminine and resembling a cisgender woman.
   • One day I dressed up all out fishy to go to my mother's place. I knocked and started walking in past her. She was like 'Can I help you?' I said, 'Ma?' and she was like OMG! She actually thought I was one of her boyfriend's hoochie [mamas].2014, Todd Kachinski Kottmeier, Steve Hammond, “Mother’s Pretty Dress”, in DRAG411’s Official Drag Handbook, 4th edition, [s.l.]: BecHavn Publishing, →ISBN, page 46