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# sleep with the fishes

phrase (idiom; verb phrase; sleep, sleeps, slept, sleeping with the fishes)

«sleep with the fishes» in the English dictionary: in the primary school — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## In the primary school

Source: Mova's pupils' dictionary. Licence: [Elamur Cosmic License](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/LICENSE/). Reviewed: the dictionary the pupils of Mova's primary school read; its examples quote the lessons and public-domain tales. Ships with Mova.

### Meaning

1. (slang, euphemism, US) to be murdered and thrown into water, as in gangster stories.
2. (humorous) to be lost or sunk in water.

### In the lessons

Gangster-film slang, used as a threat in crime stories and jokingly in everyday talk; slang, US, widely known.

### Examples

- "Talk to the police and you'll sleep with the fishes," said the gangster.
- If you drop that phone in the canal, it'll sleep with the fishes.
- The villain in the comic said his enemies sleep with the fishes.
- My kite fell in the lake and went to sleep with the fishes.
- That old line comes from a famous gangster film.
- Nobody wants to sleep with the fishes.

### Note

Base form of "sleeping with the fishes". It is a threat of death in stories, not about sleeping. "Fishes" is the old plural, kept in this phrase.