bilge water

American  

noun

1. Nautical. bilge.

2. Also called bilge.  Slang. foolish, worthless, or offensive talk or ideas; nonsense; rubbish.

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Etymology

Origin of bilge water

First recorded in 1700–10

Example Sentences

Chief Engineer Roberto Cayabyab Penaflor admitted to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships for knowingly discharging untreated oily bilge water directly from the tanker into the sea, federal 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

Sometimes bilge water can be discharged into the ocean but only after almost all oil is separated out.

From The Guardian • Dec. 2, 2016

In passing, it fell down on his small farm, and he smelt it very unpleasant, exactly like, he says, the bilge water of a ship—a sulphurous sort of stench.

From The History of the Great Irish Famine of 1847 (3rd ed.) (1902) With Notices of Earlier Irish Famines by O'Rourke, John