Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

shore leave

See more synonyms for shore leave on Thesaurus.com
noun Navy.
  1. permission to spend time ashore, usually 48 hours or more, granted a member of a ship's company.
  2. the time spent ashore during such leave.
Show More

Origin of shore leave

First recorded in 1905–10
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for shore leave

Historical Examples

  • But, to return, Mulholland answered my request for shore-leave with a soothing smile.

    The Deluge

    David Graham Phillips

  • We had, all of us, already over-stayed our shore-leave by many hours.

  • There is no accounting, ever, for the ways of shore-leave sailor-men.

    Told in the East

    Talbot Mundy

  • It was not all shore-leave, but there was skittles now and then for the deserving and good-conduct men.

    Pike & Cutlass

    George Gibbs

British Dictionary definitions for shore leave

shore leave

noun navy
  1. permission to go ashoreCompare liberty (def. 5)
  2. time spent ashore during leave
Show More
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