n. & v.
n. 1 a any large seagoing vessel (cf. BOAT). b a sailing-vessel with a bowsprit and three, four, or five square-rigged masts. 2 US an aircraft. 3 a spaceship. 4 colloq. a boat, esp. a racing-boat.
v. (shipped, shipping) 1 tr. put, take, or send away (goods, passengers, sailors, etc.) on board ship. 2 tr. a take in (water) over the side of a ship, boat, etc. b take (oars) from the rowlocks and lay them inside a boat. c fix (a rudder etc.) in its place on a ship etc. d step (a mast). 3 intr. a take ship; embark. b (of a sailor) take service on a ship (shipped for Africa). 4 tr. deliver (goods) to a forwarding agent for conveyance. ship-breaker a contractor who breaks up old ships. ship-broker an agent in shipping goods and insuring ships. ship burial Archaeol. burial in a wooden ship under a mound. ship-canal a canal large enough for ships to pass inland. ship (or ship's) chandler see CHANDLER. ship-fever typhus. ship-money hist. a tax raised to provide ships for the navy in the 17th c. ship of the desert the camel. ship off 1 send or transport by ship. 2 colloq. send (a person) away. ship of the line hist. a large battleship fighting in the front line of battle. ship-rigged square-rigged. ship's articles the terms on which seamen take service on a ship. ship's biscuit hist. a hard coarse kind of biscuit kept and eaten on board ship. ship's boat a small boat carried on board a ship. ship's company a ship's crew. ship's corporal see CORPORAL(1) 2. ship a sea be flooded by a wave. ship's husband an agent appointed by the owners to see to the provisioning of a ship in port. ship's papers documents establishing the ownership, nationality, nature of the cargo, etc., of a ship. take ship embark. when a person's ship comes home (or in) when a person's fortune is made. shipless adj. shippable adj.
[ OE scip, scipian f. Gmc ]