bilge water
Americannoun
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Nautical. bilge.
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Also called bilge. Slang. foolish, worthless, or offensive talk or ideas; nonsense; rubbish.
Etymology
Origin of bilge water
First recorded in 1700–10
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The bilge water was not processed through required pollution prevention equipment, and the illegal discharges were not recorded in the vessel’s oil record book, as required by law, prosecutors said.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 9, 2023
Some suggest bilge water from passing freighters could be aggravating its spread in Turks and Caicos.
From BBC • Jan. 9, 2020
Other people will do whatever is necessary to avoid the bracing onslaught of what my wife once called bilge water.
From New York Times • Aug. 1, 2019
The documents also show illegal practices were found on four other Princess ships, including use of clean ocean water to fool onboard sensors that would otherwise detect dumping of improperly contaminated bilge water.
From The Guardian • Dec. 2, 2016
Often and often I’ve known the whole ship’s company get no better fare than that, with little better than bilge water to drink.
From The Two Supercargoes Adventures in Savage Africa by Skinner, E.F.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
