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# sleeping with the fishes

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

«sleeping 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) murdered and thrown into water, as in gangster films.
2. (humorous) drowned, sunk or lost in water ("my phone is sleeping with the fishes").

### In the lessons

Comes from gangster films and crime stories; slang, US and widely known. Used jokingly about things dropped in water.

### Examples

- In the gangster film, the traitor is sleeping with the fishes.
- My sunglasses are sleeping with the fishes after the boat trip.
- "Tell him, or he'll be sleeping with the fishes," growled the boss.
- Dad's phone fell off the pier; it's sleeping with the fishes now.
- The old boat is sleeping with the fishes at the bottom of the lake.
- Crime writers love the phrase "sleeping with the fishes".

### Note

Not about real sleep or fish as pets. Means dead or lost underwater. A crime-story phrase, rough humour.