fish-head, n.¹ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

fish-head n.¹

[all uses are derog.; their consumption of and/or occupation with fish]

1. (US) a native of New Brunswick.

1866

Amer. Citizen (Butler, PA) 26 Sept. 2/4: Nicknames [...] New Brunswick, fish-heads.

2. (US) a native of the west Florida coast.

1950

in PADS [DARE].

3. anyone who lives alongside a river.

1950

R. Bissell Stretch on River 77: The way he carried on the time that fishhead from Nauvoo got himself drowned [DARE].

4. a West Indian.

1970

in DARE.

5. a worker in a fish cannery.

1979

Oregonian 23 Sept. Sec A1: ‘Fish-head’ (a worker in a fish cannery) [DARE].

6. an East Asian.

1976		J. Stanley World War III (1979) 175: Let off the fishhead. We still got a deal.
1987		Tour of Duty [CBS-TV] Hey, fishhead! [HDAS].

7. (N.Z. prison) a member of the Headhunters gang.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 69/1: fish headn. a member of the Headhunters.