ship

ship — noun

1. a large water vehicle built to carry people or cargo across oceans and seas

1.nounA2
Definition

a large water vehicle built to carry people or cargo across oceans and seas

Example

The cargo ship carried coffee beans from Brazil to Rotterdam.

cargo ship + carry [goods] + from [place] to [place]

Lakshmi watched the cruise ship sail out of Kaohsiung harbour.

Common collocations
  • cargo ship
  • cruise ship
  • sailing ship
  • by ship
  • board a ship
  • abandon ship
  • ship's captain
Synonyms
  • boat

    smaller than a ship; used for rivers, lakes, and short coastal trips

  • vessel

    formal term covering all watercraft, including ships and boats

  • liner

    a large luxury passenger ship on a regular route

Grammar Patterns

a/the ship

ship + verb (sail/arrive/carry)

by ship

Common Mistakes

We took a ship from Taipei to Taichung.
We took the train from Taipei to Taichung.
ships are for ocean travel, not short overland trips.

2. a romantic pairing of two characters from a story, film, or TV show that fans en

2.noun
Definition

a romantic pairing of two characters from a story, film, or TV show that fans enjoy imagining together, or two real people that fans want to see as a couple

Example

That fan posted a beautiful drawing of her favourite ship from the anime.

Hui spends hours reading fan fiction about the ship between the two main characters.

ship between [character A] and [character B]

Common collocations
  • favourite ship
  • canon ship
  • fan ship
  • support a ship
  • ship name
  • main ship
Synonyms
  • pairing

    more neutral term for two characters together

  • OTP

    acronym for 'one true pairing', a fan's most loved ship

Grammar Patterns

a/the [character A]/[character B] ship

a fan ship

Usage Note

Used primarily in fandom communities online. A 'canon ship' is officially confirmed in the original story; a 'fan ship' is imagined by fans. Sometimes also called an 'OTP' (one true pairing).

Common Mistakes

They have a ship.' (without context)
They are my main ship from that show.
the word needs context; alone it sounds like a literal boat.
Idioms

jump ship

idiom

to leave a job, organisation, or situation suddenly, especially when it is facing problems

Three senior managers jumped ship when the company began to lose money.

Nala decided to jump ship and join a competitor after the pay cuts were announced.

run a tight ship

idiom

to manage an organisation, team, or household in a very strict, efficient, and controlled way

The new principal runs a tight ship — no late assignments are accepted.

Aunt Rosa runs a tight ship in her kitchen, with everything labelled and organised.

when someone's ship comes in

idiom

the time when someone finally becomes successful or wealthy, often after a long wait

Owen is still waiting for his ship to come in, hoping his invention will sell.

When my ship comes in, I'll travel around the world first class.

(like rats) deserting/leaving a sinking ship

idiom

This idiom describes people who leave a failing organization or company without concern for those who remain.

When the company faced bankruptcy, many managers were like rats leaving a sinking ship.

Sara criticized her colleagues for deserting a sinking ship instead of helping to fix the problems.

spoil the ship for a ha’p’orth/ha’pennyworth of tar

idiom

This idiom means to ruin something good by refusing to spend a small amount of money or effort on a necessary part.

He refused to buy a simple insurance policy and spoiled the ship for a ha'p'orth of tar.

Don't spoil the ship for a ha'pennyworth of tar by skipping the final quality check.

ship — verb

ship — suffix

Word family

  • shipping
    nounB1
  • shipment
    nounB1
  • shipper
    nounB2
  • unshipped
    adjectiveC1
  • reship
    verbC1
  • friendship
    nounA2
  • leadership
    nounB1
  • citizenship
    nounB2
  • membership
    nounB1
  • partnership
    nounB2
  • scholarship
    nounB1
  • ownership
    nounB2
  • apprenticeship
    nounB2
  • championship
    nounB1

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/2

Ship, send, dispatch, and deliver all relate to moving goods from one place to another, but they differ in focus. Ship most often implies moving larger or heavier items by a commercial carrier, and in American English it's used for all delivery methods. Send is the most general word, covering anything from a letter to a parcel by any method, and can also apply to digital messages. Dispatch is more formal and suggests promptness or urgency — a warehouse dispatches orders, a police officer dispatches a patrol car. Deliver focuses on the arrival and handover: a package is delivered to your door, and the verb works best when you emphasise the recipient's perspective. For example: 'The factory shipped two thousand units to the warehouse, the warehouse dispatched them to stores overnight, and the stores delivered them to customers the next morning.'

shipsenddispatchdeliver

Common collocations

Nouns

  • goods
  • cargo
  • order
  • package
  • products
  • equipment
  • supplies
  • parts

Adverbs

  • overseas
  • abroad
  • internationally
  • worldwide
  • directly
  • safely
  • promptly

Phrases

  • by ship
  • ship on time
  • ship to customers
  • free shipping
  • shipping charge
  • shipping address

Prepositions

  • to
  • from
  • by
  • via
  • out of
  • across

Etymology

Old EnglishGermanicEnglish

The word 'ship' comes from Old English 'scip', which meant a water vessel. It is related to similar words in other Germanic languages, such as German 'Schiff', Dutch 'schip', and Swedish 'skepp'. The suffix '-ship' (as in friendship, leadership) comes from a different Old English source, '-scipe', meaning 'state, condition, or quality of being'. These two uses of ship are historically unrelated: one is a noun for a vessel, the other a suffix for forming abstract nouns. The verb 'to ship' developed from the noun in the 15th century. The fandom senses of 'ship' (noun and verb) are very recent, originating in internet fan communities around the early 2000s as a shortened form of 'relationship'.