Angling

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. The act of catching fish using a rod, line, and hook ; the process of adjusting or setting something at an angle or slope
2. Engaging in sport or recreation by trying to catch fish with a flexible rod and line ; the method of positioning or leaning something in a particular direction
3. Fishing by means of a hooked line cast with a rod ; the action of tilting or setting an object to a slant or oblique position

Etymology: The sport of fishing with a rod and line takes its name from a hook. Old English "angel" meant "hook" or "fishhook," and it came from a Proto-Germanic word for "hook" that is linked to a root meaning "to make crooked, bend." The same ancestor gave German "Angel" for a fishing pole and Dutch "angel" for a fishhook, so the fishing sense runs deep across the Germanic languages. The geometric sense comes from a separate source. Middle English "angle" meant a corner or remote region, borrowed from Middle French "angle," which came from Latin "angulus" meaning "corner." This Latin word is a doublet of "ankle," since both descend from the same root, and it is cognate with Old High German "ancha," meaning "nape of the neck." Middle English also gained a verb "anglen," meaning "to meet at an angle" or "converge," from the noun. Over time the two strands merged in spelling. The fishing verb came from the hook noun, while the adjusting-at-a-slope sense comes from the corner noun, so the modern verb holds two histories that happen to look identical.

Synonyms: fishing, casting, trawling, hooking, reeling