ship
noun
a vessel, especially a large oceangoing one propelled by sails or engines.
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ship
1 American
[ship]
/ ʃɪp /
noun
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a vessel, especially a large oceangoing one propelled by sails or engines.
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Nautical.
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a sailing vessel square-rigged on all of three or more masts, having jibs, staysails, and a spanker on the aftermost mast.
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Now Rare. a bark having more than three masts.
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the crew and, sometimes, the passengers of a vessel.
The captain gave shore leave to the whole ship.
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an airship, airplane, or spacecraft.
verb (used with object)
shipped,
shipping
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to put or take on board a ship or other means of transportation; to send or transport by ship, rail, truck, plane, etc.
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Nautical. to take in (water) over the side, as a vessel does when waves break over it.
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to bring (an object) into a ship or boat.
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to engage (someone) for service on a ship.
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to fix in a ship or boat in the proper place for use.
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to place (an oar) in proper position for rowing.
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to send away.
They shipped the kids off to camp for the summer.
verb (used without object)
shipped,
shipping
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to go on board or travel by ship; embark.
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to engage to serve on a ship.
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to be sent or transported by ship, rail, truck, plane, etc..
Both packages shipped this morning.
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to permit of being transported by any of these means.
Fresh raspberries do not ship well.
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verb phrase
idioms
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jump ship,
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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.
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to withdraw support or membership from a group, organization, cause, etc.; defect or desert.
Some of the more liberal members have jumped ship.
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when one's ship comes in / home, when one's fortune is assured.
She'll buy a house when her ship comes in.
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run a tight ship, to exercise a close, strict control over a ship's crew, a company, an organization, or the like.
ship
2
American
[ship]
/ ʃɪp /
noun
verb (used with or without object)
shipped,
shipping
-ship
3
American
ship
1
British
/ ʃɪp /
noun
-
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
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nautical a large sailing vessel with three or more square-rigged masts
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the crew of a ship
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informal any vehicle or conveyance
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when one has become successful or wealthy
verb
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to place, transport, or travel on any conveyance, esp aboard a ship
ship the microscopes by aeroplane
can we ship tomorrow?
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(tr) nautical to take (water) over the side
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to bring or go aboard a vessel
to ship oars
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informal to send away, often in order to be rid of
they shipped the children off to boarding school
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(intr) to engage to serve aboard a ship
I shipped aboard a Liverpool liner
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informal (tr) to concede (a goal)
Celtic have shipped eight goals in three away matches
-ship
2
British
suffix
-
indicating state or condition
fellowship
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indicating rank, office, or position
lordship
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indicating craft or skill
horsemanship
workmanship
scholarship
ship
More Idioms
Usage
What does -ship mean? The suffix -ship is used to form nouns to indicate a "state of being" or "skill." It is often used in everyday and technical terms. The suffix -ship comes from Old English -scipe, meaning “shape.” Yes, shape. Discover why at our entry for shape. The Latin-derived equivalent of -scipe is -form, from Latin -fōrmis, meaning “having the shape of.” This suffix appears in words such as fungiform and oviform. To learn more, check out our Words That Use article on -form.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ship1
First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English noun scip, scipp; cognate with Dutch schip, German Schiff, Old Norse, Gothic skip; verb derivative of the noun
Origin of ship2
First recorded in 1995–2000; shortening of relationship
Origin of -ship3
Middle English, Old English -scipe; akin to shape; cognate with dialectal Frisian, dialectal Dutch schip
Explanation
A ship is a large sea-going vessel, and it's also a way to transport goods. You can ship things on a ship — but, confusingly, you can also ship them on a truck or a train. A ship is like a boat, only larger — some definitions of a sailing ship say it has at least three masts. A cruise ship transports a large number of people in what is basically a floating hotel. A cargo ship, on the other hand, transports goods being imported and exported between countries. One guess about the origin of ship links it to a Germanic word meaning "hollowed-out tree."
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.
See Examples For:
Their situation became even more dangerous when pack ice destroyed their ship, leaving them stranded in one of the world's most unforgiving environments.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2026
America remains the gold standard for carrier operations, but China’s deployments have extended steadily outward, ship movements tracked by Japan and shared with the Journal show.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
A U.S. cruise ship on a three-year voyage has suspended its journey in Cambodia due to high fuel costs, forcing hundreds of passengers to disembark.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026
The same ship was seen in 2024 near cables in the Bering Sea and between Guam and Taiwan, the study found.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
On May 30, 1853, hundreds of spectators shouted three cheers, repeated three times, as Elisha’s ship, the USS Advance, sailed out of New York harbor, headed north.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
The intimate relationship between the three languages is there in the very word “relationship”, a trilingualism love child, “relation” both French and Latin, -ship an Anglo-Saxon suffix.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 6, 2019
Landscape, earlier landskip, has the suffix which in English would be -ship.
From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Ernest Weekley
—The termination "-ship" is the Anglo-Saxon scipe, scype, from verb scipan, to create, form; and hence as a termination of nouns denotes form, condition, office, dignity.
Line-end hyphens were retained in past participles in i-, y- and equivalent, and after the prefixes out- and to-; they were omitted before common endings such as -lich, -ship, -ness, -full.
From A Concise Dictionary of Middle English From A.D. 1150 to 1580 by A. L. (Anthony Lawson) Mayhew
A suitcase once containing Elizabeth Taylor's unwanted clothes which was shipped by Richard Burton to his sister suggesting to give them to "old colliers" is up for auction.
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026
Porsche says it actually sold at least two 917LHs to Polak—and Sytner says one of these other cars later shipped to Brazil was the real Hippie Car, and it ultimately ended up with him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
By the middle of this year, it shipped only 358.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
Instead it served up a sobering reminder of the gulf between the Jillaroos - the winners of the previous three World Cups - and England, who shipped 17 tries in a lopsided affair.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026
His army stacked it up and shipped it out.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
“Thus, the concept of shipping diesel to the U.S. recalls the old phrase ‘carrying coals to Newcastle,’” McCullough wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026
The group’s crude production levels are still below prewar levels, with key shipping routes disrupted.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
Radev has also argued that a ceasefire and peace talks offer the best chance of preventing further attacks on commercial shipping in the Black Sea.
From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2026
Base housing—often converted shipping containers or even tents—tends to be small, some of the current and former servicemembers said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2026
They continued bearing eastward, still shipping seas over their bows, still wet and cold.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
