ship

[ship] /ʃɪp/
noun
1.
a vessel, especially a large oceangoing one propelled by sails or engines.
2.
Nautical.
  1. a sailing vessel square-rigged on all of three or more masts, having jibs, staysails, and a spanker on the aftermost mast.
  2. Now Rare. a bark having more than three masts.
    Compare shipentine.
3.
the crew and, sometimes, the passengers of a vessel:
The captain gave the ship shore leave.
4.
an airship, airplane, or spacecraft.
verb (used with object), shipped, shipping.
5.
to put or take on board a ship or other means of transportation; to send or transport by ship, rail, truck, plane, etc.
6.
Nautical. to take in (water) over the side, as a vessel does when waves break over it.
7.
to bring (an object) into a ship or boat.
8.
to engage (someone) for service on a ship.
9.
to fix in a ship or boat in the proper place for use.
10.
to place (an oar) in proper position for rowing.
Compare boat (def 10).
11.
to send away:
They shipped the kids off to camp for the summer.
verb (used without object), shipped, shipping.
12.
to go on board or travel by ship; embark.
13.
to engage to serve on a ship.
Verb phrases
14.
ship out,
  1. to leave, especially for another country or assignment:
    He said goodby to his family and shipped out for the West Indies.
  2. to send away, especially to another country or assignment.
  3. Informal. to quit, resign, or be fired from a job:
    Shape up or ship out!
Idioms
15.
jump ship,
  1. to escape from a ship, especially one in foreign waters or a foreign port, as to avoid further service as a sailor or to request political asylum.
  2. to withdraw support or membership from a group, organization, cause, etc.; defect or desert:
    Some of the more liberal members have jumped ship.
16.
run a tight ship, to exercise a close, strict control over a ship's crew, a company, organization, or the like.
17.
when one's ship comes in / home, when one's fortune is assured:
She'll buy a car as soon as her ship comes in.
Origin
before 900; (noun) Middle English; Old English scip; cognate with Dutch schip, German Schiff, Old Norse, Gothic skip; (v.) Middle English s(c)hip(p)en, derivative of the noun
Related forms
shipless, adjective
shiplessly, adverb
misship, verb, misshipped, misshipping.
preship, verb (used with object), preshipped, preshipping.
Can be confused
barge, boat, canoe, cruise ship, sailboat, ship, yacht.

-ship

1.
a native English suffix of nouns denoting condition, character, office, skill, etc.:
clerkship; friendship; statesmanship.
Origin
Middle English, Old English -scipe; akin to shape; cognate with dialectal Frisian, dialectal Dutch schip
Examples from the web for ship
  • Send it out to sea in search of a humanitarian aid ship to destroy.
  • If they want their jobs to survive, they have to be the kind of people who'll be hauled back onto the ship.
  • Software firms prefer to bash out code and then try to catch as many bugs as possible while racing to ship the product.
  • ship traffic, seismic tests and sonar pings can make navigating the seas tricky for whales.
  • The building of a cruise ship is a huge logistical challenge.
  • For years big ship propulsion had a standard configuration: a propeller in the rear with a rudder behind it to steer.
  • The hammock's design brings to mind a graceful sailing ship that has come into the harbor of a tropical paradise.
  • Fending off pirates is tough work that demands a tough ship.
  • They either hadn't been through the annual review cycle or received a poor review and jumped ship.
  • The company plans to ship both the single and dual-screen tablet by the end of the year.
British Dictionary definitions for ship

ship

/ʃɪp/
noun
1.
a vessel propelled by engines or sails for navigating on the water, esp a large vessel that cannot be carried aboard another, as distinguished from a boat
2.
(nautical) a large sailing vessel with three or more square-rigged masts
3.
the crew of a ship
4.
short for airship, spaceship
5.
(informal) any vehicle or conveyance
6.
when one's ship comes in, when one has become successful or wealthy
verb ships, shipping, shipped
7.
to place, transport, or travel on any conveyance, esp aboard a ship: ship the microscopes by aeroplane, can we ship tomorrow?
8.
(transitive) (nautical) to take (water) over the side
9.
to bring or go aboard a vessel: to ship oars
10.
(informal) (transitive) often foll by off. to send away, often in order to be rid of: they shipped the children off to boarding school
11.
(intransitive) to engage to serve aboard a ship: I shipped aboard a Liverpool liner
12.
(informal) (transitive) to concede (a goal): Celtic have shipped eight goals in three away matches
See also ship out
Derived Forms
shippable, adjective
Word Origin
Old English scip; related to Old Norse skip, Old High German skif ship, scipfī cup

-ship

suffix
1.
indicating state or condition: fellowship
2.
indicating rank, office, or position: lordship
3.
indicating craft or skill: horsemanship, workmanship, scholarship
Word Origin
Old English -scipe; compare shape
Word Origin and History for ship
n.

Old English scip "ship, boat," from Proto-Germanic *skipam (cf. Old Norse, Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Gothic skip, Danish skib, Swedish skepp, Middle Dutch scip, Dutch schip, Old High German skif, German Schiff), "Germanic noun of obscure origin" [Watkins]. Others suggest perhaps originally "tree cut out or hollowed out," and derive it from PIE root *skei- "to cut, split."

Now a vessel of considerable size, adapted to navigation; the Old English word was used for small craft as well, and definitions changed over time; in 19c., distinct from a boat in having a bowsprit and three masts, each with a lower, top, and topgallant mast. French esquif, Italian schifo are Germanic loan-words.

Phrase ships that pass in the night is from Longfellow's poem "Elizabeth" in "Tales of a Wayside Inn" (1863). Figurative use of nautical runs a tight ship (i.e., one that does not leak) is attested from 1965.

v.

c.1300, "to send or transport (merchandise, people) by ship; to board a ship; to travel by ship, sail, set sail," also figurative, from ship (n.). Old English scipian is attested only in the senses "take ship, embark; be furnished with a ship." Transferred to other means of conveyance (railroad, etc.) from 1857, originally American English. Related: Shipped; shipping.

-ship

word-forming element meaning "quality, condition; act, power, skill; office, position; relation between," Middle English -schipe, from Old English -sciepe, Anglian -scip "state, condition of being," from Proto-Germanic *-skapaz (cf. Old Norse -skapr, Danish -skab, Old Frisian -skip, Dutch -schap, German -schaft), from *skap- "to create, ordain, appoint," from PIE root *(s)kep- (see shape (v.)).

Slang definitions & phrases for ship

ship

Related Terms

pump ship, shape up


Idioms and Phrases with ship

ship

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