catfish

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a mainly freshwater fish with whiskerlike barbels around its mouth

   The angler released the catfish into the river after weighing it.

2. 2
   noun

   informal: a person who uses a false online identity to deceive someone

   The supposed celebrity turned out to be a catfish using stolen photographs.

3. 3
   verb

   informal: to deceive someone online by using a false identity

   The scammer catfished several people with the same invented profile.

A compound of cat + fish, referring to the fish's whiskerlike barbels. The online-deception senses spread in the twenty-first century through the metaphor of presenting a false identity as bait.

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