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Glite Dictionary
to sleep with the fishes

to sleep with the fishes

1 9.9
To be killed and thrown into water by criminals, often said as a joke
  • idiom
  • Offensive
translation icon : dormir con los peces
  • You get me out of here or else you sleep with the fishes.

What I'm saying is a large portion of Tony sleeps with the fishes now.

Examples

  • And we better not see you two around here again or you're gonna sleep with the fishes.

    A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa (2008)

  • I'll end up sleeping with the fishes.

    Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001)

  • Or else you'll be sleeping with the fishes.

    Orgazmo (1998)

  • Snitches get stitches and sleep with the fishes.

    The Bad Guys 2 (2025)

  • It means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes.

    The Godfather (1972)

  • If you betray us, you will sleep with the fishes.

  • After he informed the police, he feared he would sleep with the fishes.

  • The gangster warned his rival that anyone who crossed him would soon be sleeping with the fishes.

Synonyms

to drown
vsto sleep with the fishes
  • NSFW
123 1.4

Make a person or animal die by holding them under water so they cannot breathe

is an informal idiom for killing and disposing a body in water
to buy it
vsto sleep with the fishes
  • Informal
57 9.9

To die suddenly from an accident or attack

refers specifically to being killed and left in water by criminals

Antonyms

to live
∞ 1.0

To continue to be alive

to survive
747 2.5

Live after someone close to you has died

Surface Forms

sleep with the fishes infinitive
sleeping with the fishes present participle
sleeps with the fishes third person singular
slept with the fishes past
slept with the fishes past participle

Morphology

sleep + with + the + fish

The phrase is an idiomatic mafia euphemism meaning ‘be murdered and dumped in water,’ which cannot be reliably derived from the literal meanings of 'sleep' + 'with' + 'the' + 'fishes.' Although 'sleep' can euphemically signal death in some contexts, the specific notion of being killed and disposed of in water is cultural and non-compositional, so a B1 learner who only knows the parts would not predict this meaning.

Etymology

Sleep with the fishes comes from old gangster stories where killers would throw a dead body into the water so the person would literally sleep with the fishes. So it means 'to be killed and thrown into water' and is often used as a dark threat or joke.