have other fish to fry
have other fish to fry verb: to have more important things to do.
Verb
have other fish to fry (third-person singular simple present has other fish to fry, present participle having other fish to fry, simple past and past participle had other fish to fry)
- To have more important things to do.
- I have other fish to fry; so good-morrow, my ladies all, good-morrow.c. 1710, The Journal to Stella, Jonathan Swift, ch. 2, Letter 15
- Your uncle will not return yet; he has other fish to fry: he will be galloping backwards and forwards from Briarfield to Stilbro' all day, […]1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “To-Morrow”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 212
Forms of have other fish to fry
| third-person singular present | has other fish to fry |
|---|---|
| present participle | having other fish to fry |
| past participle | had other fish to fry |
| past | had other fish to fry |
Questions about have other fish to fry
- What does have other fish to fry mean?
- Have other fish to fry means to have more important things to do.
- What part of speech is have other fish to fry?
- Have other fish to fry is a verb.
- What is the past tense of have other fish to fry?
- The past tense of have other fish to fry is had other fish to fry.
Words near have other fish to fry in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: have other fish to fry (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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