ship definition

English ship definition

Pronunciation

• enPR: shĭp, IPA^(key): /ʃɪp/

• Audio - 'a ship' (UK)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪp

Etymology 1

From Middle English ship, schip, from Old English sċip, from Proto-West Germanic *skip, from Proto-Germanic *skipą, from Proto-Indo-European *skēyb-, *skib-. More at shift.

Alternative forms

• shippe (obsolete)

Noun

ship (plural ships)

1. (nautical) A water-borne vessel generally larger than a boat.
2. (chiefly in combination) A vessel which travels through any medium other than across land, such as an airship or spaceship.
3. (computing, mathematics, chiefly in combination) A spaceship (the type of pattern in a cellular automaton).
4. (archaic, nautical, formal) A sailing vessel with three or more square-rigged masts.
5. A dish or utensil (originally fashioned like the hull of a ship) used to hold incense[15th century].
6. (cartomancy) The third card of the Lenormand deck.
7. (dated) An aircraft.
   • 1944, Wolfgang Langewiesche, Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying

     This means that the landing wheels are not so far forward of the ship's center of gravity ; and that means that ground contact is less likely to produce a bounce.

   • 1994, American Aviation Historical Society Journal (page 107)

     In addition to the four NAA pilots, three Air Force and one RAF pilot, all based at Edwards, flew the ship after first being checked out on the "tether rig."

Usage notes

• The singular form ship is sometimes used without any article, producing such sentences as "In all, we spent three weeks aboard ship." and "Abandon ship!". (Similar patterns may be seen with many place nouns, such as camp, home, work, and school, but the details vary between them.)
• Ships are traditionally regarded as feminine and the pronouns her and she are still sometimes used instead of it.

Hyponyms

Thesaurus:watercraft

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English schippen, schipen, from Old English sċipian, from Proto-Germanic *skipōną, from Proto-Germanic *skipą (“ship”).

Verb

ship (third-person singular simple present ships, present participle shipping, simple past and past participle shipped)

1. (transitive) To send by water-borne transport.
   • 1603, Richard Knolles, The Generall Historie of the Turkes, […], London: […] Adam Islip, OCLC 837543169:

     The timber was […] shipped in the bay of Attalia, […] from whence it was by sea transported to Palusium.

   • 2014 June 14, “It's a gas”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891:

     One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. Isolating a city’s effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.

3. (transitive) To send (a parcel or container) to a recipient (by any means of transport).

   to ship freight by railroad

4. (transitive, intransitive) To release a product (not necessarily physical) to vendors or customers; to launch.

   Our next issue ships early next year.

   It compiles? Ship it!

5. (transitive, intransitive) To engage to serve on board a vessel.

   to ship seamen

   I shipped on a man-of-war.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 19”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, OCLC 57395299:

     With finger pointed and eye levelled at the Pequod, the beggar-like stranger stood a moment, as if in a troubled reverie; then starting a little, turned and said:—“Ye’ve shipped, have ye? Names down on the papers? Well, well, what’s signed, is signed; and what’s to be, will be; […]

6. (intransitive) To embark on a ship.
   • 1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “Night 563”, in A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], volume (please specify the volume), Shammar edition, [London]: […] Burton Club […], OCLC 939632161:

     I shipped with them and becoming friends, we set forth on our venture, in health and safety; and sailed with a fair wind, till we came to a city called Madínat-al-Sín; […]

7. (transitive, nautical) To put or secure in its place.

   to ship the tiller or rudder

8. (transitive) To take in (water) over the sides of a vessel.
   • 1820, [Charles Robert Maturin], Melmoth the Wanderer: A Tale. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Company, and Hurst, Robinson, and Co., […], OCLC 1202978654, page 159:

     She was half in the water, a mere hulk, her rigging torn to shreds, her main mast cut away, and every sea she shipped, Melmoth could hear distinctly the dying cries of those who were swept away, or perhaps of those whose mind and body, alike exhausted, relaxed their benumbed hold of hope and life together,—knew that the next shriek that was uttered must be their own and their last.

   • 1887, H. Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure‎^[1]:

     But as things were it was manageable enough, and we did not ship a cupful of water.

   We were shipping so much water I was sure we would capsize.

9. (colloquial, with dummy it) Leave, depart, scram.
   • 2008 November 21, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 3, Episode 1:

     Douglas: Sorry girls, you better go. Girls! Ship it!

10. (transitive, colloquial) To pass (from one person to another).

    Can you ship me the ketchup?

    • 2011 September 18, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia”, in BBC Sport:

      And when scrum-half Ben Youngs, who had a poor game, was burgled by opposite number Irakli Abuseridze and the ball shipped down the line to Irakli Machkhaneli, it looked like Georgia had scored a try of their own, but the winger's foot was in touch.

11. (poker slang, transitive, intransitive) To go all in.
12. (sports) To trade or send a player to another team.

    Twins ship Delmon Young to Tigers.

13. (rugby) To bungle a kick and give the opposing team possession.
    • 2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport:

      England were shipping penalties at an alarming rate - five in the first 15 minutes alone - and with Wilkinson missing three long-distance pots of his own in the first 20 minutes, the alarm bells began to ring for Martin Johnson's men.

    • 2015 February 11, “Six Nations: Scotland raw but capable of improving”, in The Scotsman:

      They shipped penalties, lost field position, and in the second-half, having retreated to the changing room buoyed by Dougie Fife’s well-worked try, found themselves ceding two-thirds of the territory and with it, the lion’s share of the ball.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

Clipping of relationship.

Noun

ship (plural ships)

2. (fandom slang) A fictional romantic relationship between two characters, either real or themselves fictional, especially one explored in fan fiction.

Derived terms

• shipfic

Coordinate terms

• slash fiction
• slash

Translations

Verb

ship (third-person singular simple present ships, present participle shipping, simple past and past participle shipped)

2. (fandom slang) To support or approve of a fictional romantic relationship between two characters, typically in fan fiction or other fandom contexts.
   • 2017, Helen Razer, Total Propaganda: Basic Marxist Brainwashing for the Angry and the Young, Allen & Unwin (→ISBN)

     I should warn you that I could not identify a ‘dank meme’ if the fate of the working class depended on it and that I shall not be ‘shipping’ Lenin and Trotsky.

   I ship Kirk and Spock in “Star Trek”.

   I ship Peggy and Angie in “Marvel's Agent Carter”.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• -ship

Further reading

• Shipping (fandom) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• HIPs, hiPS, hips, phis, pish

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French ship definition

Etymology

From English ship.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃip/

Noun

ship m (plural ships)

1. (fandom slang) ship

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Middle English ship definition

Noun

ship

1. Alternative form of schip

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Portuguese ship definition

Alternative forms

• shipp (misspelling)

Etymology

From English ship, clipping of relationship.

Noun

ship m (plural ships)

2. (fandom slang) ship (a fictional romantic relationship between two characters, either real or themselves fictional)

Derived terms

• shippar

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Spanish ship definition

Etymology

From English ship.

Noun

ship m (plural ships)

1. (fandom slang) ship

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Vietnamese ship definition

Etymology

Clipping of English shipping.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [sip̚˧˦]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʂip̚˦˧˥]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ʂip̚˦˥] ~ [sip̚˦˥]
• Phonetic: síp
• Homophone: Síp

Verb

ship

1. to ship (goods to customers), to make a delivery

   Synonym: giao

   • 2018, MediaZ, Instagram: Giải pháp xây dựng thương hiệu và bán hàng, NXB Thế giới, page 116:

     Một số trang thường sử dụng từ "Miễn phí" trong hồ sơ của họ, có thể là miễn phí ship hàng, tư vấn miễn phí…

     Some pages tend to use the word "Free" in their files, which can mean free delivery of goods, free advice, etc.

   • 2020, Nguyễn Chu Nam Phương, Numagician: Đánh thức phù thủy trí nhớ trong bạn, NXB Đà Nẵng:

     Hình dung tôi ra bưu điện, thì thấy họ mới nâng cấp dịch vụ, cho vịt Donald đi ship hàng.

     Imagine I go to the post office and see they just upgraded their services and allow Donald Duck to send goods.

   • 2021, Lam Huynh, Nhân sinh cảm ngộ, tập 3:

     Ban đầu, cô đã giúp bạn của mình mua hàng miễn phí và cô cũng trả hộ tiền ship nhiều lần.

     At first, she helped her friend buy goods for free and many times she also paid the delivery fee for him.