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Flying Dutchman

American  

noun

  1. a legendary Dutch ghost ship supposed to be seen at sea, especially near the Cape of Good Hope.

  2. the captain of this ship, supposed to have been condemned to sail the sea, beating against the wind, until the Day of Judgment.


Flying Dutchman British  

noun

  1. legend

    1. a phantom ship sighted in bad weather, esp off the Cape of Good Hope

    2. the captain of this ship

  2. a type of dinghy, designed to be crewed by two people

"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

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.

His flag also features the England three lions badge and the names of two pubs in Lowestoft - The Flying Dutchman and The Blues Bar.

From BBC • Dec. 6, 2022

The following year, the Kroll Opera, Otto Klemperer’s progressive Berlin company, delivered a counterblow to the nazification of Wagner when it mounted The Flying Dutchman in proletarian modern dress.

From The Guardian • Sep. 17, 2020

Words, concepts and images that pervade his work have become commonplace signifiers in contemporary discourse: Valhalla, Liebestod, Valkyrie, Gesamtkunstwerk, Flying Dutchman, Nibelung, Brünnhilde, Götterdämmerung, Siegfried, Leitmotiv, endless melody, to name just a few.

From New York Times • Sep. 16, 2020

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman Reissue of the decades-spanning 1951 fantasy drama about a mysterious sea captain doomed to wander the world till he finds true love.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 16, 2020

For a while I worried that Viking 1 had been condemned, like the legendary Flying Dutchman, to wander the skies of Mars forever, never to find safe haven.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan