Cutty Sark

British

noun

a three-masted merchant clipper built in Dumbarton, Scotland in 1869, now kept as a museum ship at Greenwich, London; badly damaged by a fire in 2007; restored then reopened in 2012

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of Cutty Sark

named after the witch in Robert Burns' poem Tam O'Shanter, who wore only a cutty sark (short shirt)

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 winner will be announced on 25 June at a ceremony at the Cutty Sark in London, while £20,000 will also be given to each of the four other finalists.

From BBC • Apr. 20, 2026

Through the streets of Greenwich they go and past Cutty Sark as Manuela Schar leads the women’s wheelchair race by a significant distance.

From The Guardian • Oct. 3, 2021

He hung out with Johnny Carson, dated Natalie Wood and knocked back Cutty Sark at 2 a.m. with Bette Davis.

From New York Times • Nov. 11, 2016

The Slate report has been questioned; the other two stories were as copper-bottomed as the hull of the Cutty Sark.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 2, 2016

"Well," he replied, "there was the Cutty Sark."

From London River by Tomlinson, H. M. (Henry Major)

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023