ships that pass in the night

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Often said of people who meet for a brief but intense moment and then part, never to see each other again. These people are like two ships that greet each other with flashing lights and then sail off into the night. From a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

QUIZ

TAKE JOY IN ACING THIS QUIZ ON “PRIDE” SYNONYMS

Hold your head up high as you embark on this quiz that explores some of the synonyms and meanings of “pride.”

Question 1 of 7

What does "dignity" mean?

showing self-respect

treating others with kindness

acting selfishly

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Words nearby ships that pass in the night

shipside, ship's inertial navigation system, ship's papers, ship's store, ship's stores, ships that pass in the night, ship-to-shore, shipway, shipworm, shipwreck, shipwright

How to use ships that pass in the night in a sentence

France 24 is providing live, round-the-clock coverage of both scenes as they progress.
LIVE Coverage of the Paris Terror Attacks||January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
People watch night soaps because the genre allows them to believe in a world where people just react off their baser instincts.
‘Empire’ Review: Hip-Hop Musical Chairs with an Insane Soap Opera Twist|Judnick Mayard|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
On Dec. 22, 1799, Sands told her cousins that she would be leaving to elope with a fellow boarder named Levi Weeks that night.
New York’s Most Tragic Ghost Loves Minimalist Swedish Fashion|Nina Strochlic|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Sands was involved in a scandalous-for-the-time romance with the carpenter and there were rumors she was pregnant with his child.
New York’s Most Tragic Ghost Loves Minimalist Swedish Fashion|Nina Strochlic|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST

As of Thursday night, the brothers remained on the loose, last seen in northern France.
U.S. Spies See Al Qaeda Fingerprints on Paris Massacre|Shane Harris, Nancy A. Youssef|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The night wore on, and the clock downstairs was striking the hour of two when she suddenly awakened.
The Homesteader|Oscar Micheaux
Without preface, he abruptly asked, what had been told him of the Duke of Wharton's behaviour the preceding night.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4|Jane Porter
Nevertheless the evening and the night passed away without incident.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
Let the thought of self pass in, and the beauty of great action is gone, like the bloom from a soiled flower.
Pearls of Thought|Maturin M. Ballou
Sleek finds it far harder work than fortune-making; but he pursues his Will-o'-the-Wisp with untiring energy.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills

Other Idioms and Phrases with ships that pass in the night

ships that pass in the night

Individuals who are rarely in the same place at the same time. For example, Jan works the early shift and Paula the late shift—they're two ships that pass in the night. This metaphoric expression comes from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem “The Theologian's Tale” (published in Tales of a Wayside Inn, 1873).