Plural of fishbowl; glass containers for keeping pet fish, or metaphorically, situations where everyone can see everything you do.
Compound of 'fish' (Old English 'fisc') and 'bowl' (Old English 'bolla', meaning a rounded container). Used literally since the 1700s when glass manufacturing made such vessels common.
The phrase 'living in a fishbowl' became popular in the 1960s for celebrities and public figures, but the actual aquarium version almost killed more pet fish than any disease — round bowls distort fish vision and create toxic ammonia pockets that invisible to owners.
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