ship
noun
a vessel, especially a large oceangoing one propelled by sails or engines.
ship
1 American
[ship]
/ ʃɪp /
noun
-
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:
Military officials have disputed that there are severe issues afflicting the ship, and some veterans have also suggested that the accounts in the media are overblown.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
An unknown projectile struck a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz overnight, the British navy’s marine-traffic monitoring agency said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
With its tar-soaked rigging, creaking oak deck and 50 spruce oars, Draken Harald Harfagre is the largest modern replica of a Viking ship.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
The replacement ship, the USS George Washington, has had it's own history of mental health challenges.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
Kane and the rest stayed with the ship and began preparations for another grueling winter.
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
—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
Landscape, earlier landskip, has the suffix which in English would be -ship.
From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Ernest Weekley
The firm shipped more than 5,500 humanoid robots last year as demand for the technology grows.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
Wafers produced and shipped in the current quarter will have higher prices, he adds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Despite a pause in most tariffs following talks in May 2025, Washington and Beijing have continued to exchange sanctions, including restrictions on humanoid robots shipped to the US and tighter Chinese curbs on drone exports.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
The company also expects to see growth in bits, referring to an increase in memory capacity that is produced and shipped.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
That last summer we were shipped home began like all the others.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
He sent home $1,500 and said he was shipping back a vehicle, Goodho said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
However, the record low water levels currently hampering shipping on the Rhine river present an acute risk affecting economic activity, Wambach noted.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Iran says it is working to finalize a joint statement with Oman on a plan to manage shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
But Iranian officials said on Monday they were close to finalising a deal with Oman on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
"They're packing and shipping Tater?" says Duke with a dramatic whip of his head.
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
