Meanings
Earliest known record is from 1833, see the quotation below. The phrase was popularized in the motion picture The Godfather (1972). The 1969 book on which the movie was based includes a large, dead fish wrapped in a bulletproof vest being used to signify that a character is "sleeping on the bottom of the ocean", but not the phrase.[1]
How to pronounce "sleep with the fishes":
AU
To have one's corpse disposed of in a body of water.
Example Sentences
1
The mobster threatened to make him sleep with the fishes if he didn't pay his dues.
2
The detective whispered to his partner, 'We need to make sure this evidence doesn't become a reason for us to sleep with the fishes.'
