Word.ws English Dictionary

having other fish to fry

having other fish to fry is the present participle and gerund of have other fish to fry.

Meaning of have other fish to fry

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)

  1. (idiomatic) 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

Questions about having other fish to fry

What is having other fish to fry the present participle and gerund of?
Having other fish to fry is the present participle and gerund of have other fish to fry.

Words near having other fish to fry in the dictionary

  1. having one's whole life ahead of one
  2. having one's wig snatched
  3. having one's wits about one
  4. having one's work cut out
  5. having one's work cut out for one
  6. having other fish to fry
  7. having other ideas
  8. having out
  9. having over
  10. having respect of persons
  11. having said that

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: having other fish to fry (page history and authors); 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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