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ship1

[ship]
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noun
  1. a vessel, especially a large oceangoing one propelled by sails or engines.
  2. Nautical.
    1. a sailing vessel square-rigged on all of three or more masts, having jibs, staysails, and a spanker on the aftermost mast.
    2. Now Rare.a bark having more than three masts.Compare shipentine.
  3. the crew and, sometimes, the passengers of a vessel: The captain gave the ship shore leave.
  4. an airship, airplane, or spacecraft.
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verb (used with object), shipped, ship·ping.
  1. to put or take on board a ship or other means of transportation; to send or transport by ship, rail, truck, plane, etc.
  2. Nautical. to take in (water) over the side, as a vessel does when waves break over it.
  3. to bring (an object) into a ship or boat.
  4. to engage (someone) for service on a ship.
  5. to fix in a ship or boat in the proper place for use.
  6. to place (an oar) in proper position for rowing.Compare boat(def 10).
  7. to send away: They shipped the kids off to camp for the summer.
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verb (used without object), shipped, ship·ping.
  1. to go on board or travel by ship; embark.
  2. to engage to serve on a ship.
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Verb Phrases
  1. ship out,
    1. to leave, especially for another country or assignment: He said goodby to his family and shipped out for the West Indies.
    2. to send away, especially to another country or assignment.
    3. Informal.to quit, resign, or be fired from a job: Shape up or ship out!
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Idioms
  1. jump ship,
    1. 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.
    2. to withdraw support or membership from a group, organization, cause, etc.; defect or desert: Some of the more liberal members have jumped ship.
  2. run a tight ship, to exercise a close, strict control over a ship's crew, a company, organization, or the like.
  3. when one's ship comes in/home, when one's fortune is assured: She'll buy a car as soon as her ship comes in.
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Origin of ship1

before 900; (noun) Middle English; Old English scip; cognate with Dutch schip, German Schiff, Old Norse, Gothic skip; (v.) Middle English s(c)hip(p)en, derivative of the noun
Related formsship·less, adjectiveship·less·ly, adverbmis·ship, verb, mis·shipped, mis·ship·ping.pre·ship, verb (used with object), pre·shipped, pre·ship·ping.
Can be confusedbarge boat canoe cruise ship sailboat ship yacht
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for run a tight ship

ship

noun
  1. 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
  2. nautical a large sailing vessel with three or more square-rigged masts
  3. the crew of a ship
  4. short for airship, spaceship
  5. informal any vehicle or conveyance
  6. when one's ship comes in when one has become successful or wealthy
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verb ships, shipping or shipped
  1. to place, transport, or travel on any conveyance, esp aboard a shipship the microscopes by aeroplane; can we ship tomorrow?
  2. (tr) nautical to take (water) over the side
  3. to bring or go aboard a vesselto ship oars
  4. (tr often foll by off) informal to send away, often in order to be rid ofthey shipped the children off to boarding school
  5. (intr) to engage to serve aboard a shipI shipped aboard a Liverpool liner
  6. informal (tr) to concede (a goal)Celtic have shipped eight goals in three away matches
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See also ship out
Derived Formsshippable, adjective

Word Origin

Old English scip; related to Old Norse skip, Old High German skif ship, scipfī cup
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

Word Origin and History for run a tight ship

ship

n.

Old English scip "ship, boat," from Proto-Germanic *skipam (cf. Old Norse, Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Gothic skip, Danish skib, Swedish skepp, Middle Dutch scip, Dutch schip, Old High German skif, German Schiff), "Germanic noun of obscure origin" [Watkins]. Others suggest perhaps originally "tree cut out or hollowed out," and derive it from PIE root *skei- "to cut, split."

Now a vessel of considerable size, adapted to navigation; the Old English word was used for small craft as well, and definitions changed over time; in 19c., distinct from a boat in having a bowsprit and three masts, each with a lower, top, and topgallant mast. French esquif, Italian schifo are Germanic loan-words.

Phrase ships that pass in the night is from Longfellow's poem "Elizabeth" in "Tales of a Wayside Inn" (1863). Figurative use of nautical runs a tight ship (i.e., one that does not leak) is attested from 1965.

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ship

v.

c.1300, "to send or transport (merchandise, people) by ship; to board a ship; to travel by ship, sail, set sail," also figurative, from ship (n.). Old English scipian is attested only in the senses "take ship, embark; be furnished with a ship." Transferred to other means of conveyance (railroad, etc.) from 1857, originally American English. Related: Shipped; shipping.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with run a tight ship

run a tight ship

see tight ship.

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ship

In addition to the idioms beginning with ship

  • ship of state
  • ship out
  • ships that pass in the night

also see:

  • desert a sinking ship
  • enough to sink a ship
  • shape up (or ship out)
  • tight ship
  • when one's ship comes in
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.