have other fish to fry

English

Verb

have other fish to fry

To have more important things to do.
- c. 1710, Jonathan Swift, The Journal to Stella, ch. 2, Letter 15:
  I have other fish to fry; so good-morrow, my ladies all, good-morrow.
- 1849, Charlotte Brontë, chapter 20, in Shirley:
  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.
- 1905, George Bernard Shaw, chapter 15, in The Irrational Knot:
  "May I ask whether you will be persuaded to come?"
  
  "No, for certain. I have other fish to fry here."

Translations

to have more important things to do

French: avoir d'autres chats à fouetter (fr)
German: haben andere Igel zu kämmen

Hebrew: יש לי נחשים אחרים ללטף‎
Italian: avere altre gatte da pelare

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.