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:
Commerce Department doesn’t require an export license to ship this type of hardware to those two countries, but does for shipments to China.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
Yet growth is expected to come fast: Barclays expects 60,000 humanoids will be put to work by the end of 2026, while some 500,000 robots could ship annually by 2031, according to the bank’s projections.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
Promoters scraped out regional fiefdoms where transient performers would fight for a spell before jumping ship in search of better deals.
From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026
This is a moment for leading a wayward ship.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
“We must have a ship to fish,” Michael had told Granda.
From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff
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.
Landscape, earlier landskip, has the suffix which in English would be -ship.
From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Ernest Weekley
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
Americans might breathe a sigh of relief with prices for gasoline down a bit from last week, but eventually they could pay a premium on the goods shipped to their homes or local grocery stores.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
All were stolen and they were destined to be shipped to Hong Kong.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
We’ve shipped enormous quantities of rump across the Pacific for ground beef for hamburgers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
His parents shipped him off to an all-boys, religious high school at 14 near Napa, where he trained to become a member of the Christian Brothers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
He wishes he could write what he really thinks of Hitler and the Nazis who shipped his brother off to war.
From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Richard Uihlein, chief executive of the shipping and packing supplies company Uline, has given the campaign $17 million.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
But representatives of Sri Lankan shipping companies say it has become difficult to secure approval from port authorities to provide any services for Iranian vessels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
Businesses are taking “a very close look” at transportation costs, trying to spot inefficiencies and looking to maximize shipping.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
Meltwater from glaciers can be an important source of water for irrigation, hydropower and even shipping traffic during hot, dry conditions.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
The smell of diesel smoke from the shipping container’s generator reminds me strongly of home.
From "Without Refuge" by Jane Mitchell
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.
