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English (UK)
Cambridge Dictionary Online

Meaning of ship in English

ship
noun [ C ]
uk
/ʃɪp/ us
/ʃɪp/

ship noun [C] (BOAT)

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A2
a large boat for travelling on water, especially across the sea:
sailing ship
merchant ship
naval ship
board a ship They boarded (= went on to) the ship with little time to spare.
a ship sails The ship was sailing (= leaving) the next day.
 
Pierre-Yves Babelon/Moment/GettyImages
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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Passenger, cargo & military ships
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ship noun [C] (RELATIONSHIP)

informal
a relationship between real people or characters in a story, especially one that is approved of or imagined by fans (= people who admire and support a person, film, etc.):
Theirs is one of the most popular ships in fandom culture.
A ship can be a real-life relationship, or one that exists only in fiction.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Relationships: general words
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Idioms

abandon/jump ship
like ships that pass in the night
ship
verb
uk
/ʃɪp/ us
/ʃɪp/
-pp-

ship verb (SEND GOODS)

[ T ]
to send goods by water, especially by sea:
The goods are then shipped across the Atlantic.
For thousands of years, goods had been shipped by sea to be unloaded by dockers at the ports.
In the Victorian era coal was shipped by canal.
[ I or T ]
to send goods by air, train, or road, or to be sent in this way:
You don't have to go to the post office to ship your packages.
ship something out We ship books out to New York every month.
The store will even ship to your college .
[ I or T ]
to make something, especially computer products and equipment, available for sale, or to become available:
The company is now shipping the latest version of its video editing application.
This software has been shipping for a while now.
More examplesFewer examples
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Delivering and despatching
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ship verb (RELATIONSHIP)

[ I or T ]
to imagine or hope that real people or characters in a story are in a romantic relationship, or to be very interested in two real people's relationship:
People who ship a couple often create fan art or write fanfiction about them.
People of all ages enjoy shipping.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Relationships: general words
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Phrasal verb

ship someone off
-ship
suffix
uk
/ -ʃɪp/ us
/ -ʃɪp/
having the rank, position, skill, or relationship of the stated type:
lordship
partnership
craftsmanship
friendship
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Organizations - position & status
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
(Definition of ship from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

ship | American Dictionary

ship
noun [ C ]
us
/ʃɪp/
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a boat, esp. one that is large enough to travel on the sea:
a cruise/cargo ship
A ship is also an aircraft or spacecraft.
ship
verb [ T ]
us
/ʃɪp/
-pp-
to transport something or someone by air, train, boat, or truck:
They shipped our furniture from Tennessee.
Parts for the space station are being shipped out there by spacecraft.

Phrasal verb

ship someone/something off
(Definition of ship from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

ship | Business English

ship
verb
uk
/ʃɪp/ us
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[ T ]   TRANSPORT, COMMERCE
to send or transport something by sea:
ship sth to sb/sth The vessel was used to ship gold bullion to America.
[ I or T ]   TRANSPORT, COMMERCE
to send goods by air, train, or road, or to be sent in this way:
ship sth to sb/sth The company will ship purchases to any address within the US.
I asked the suppliers to ship us a replacement as soon as possible.
We don't currently ship outside the EU.
They assured me our order will be shipping tomorrow.
[ I or T ]   COMMERCE, IT
to make something, especially computer products and equipment, available for sale, or to become available:
The company is now shipping the first in a new series of interactive DVDs.
This software has been shipping for a while now.

Phrasal verbs

ship sth off
ship out
ship sth out
ship
noun [ C ]
  TRANSPORT
uk
/ʃɪp/ us
a large boat used for transporting goods or people by sea:
There were several ships waiting in the dock for their cargo to be unloaded.
abandon/jump ship
to leave an organization very suddenly, especially when you think it is going to fail:
The CEO abandoned ship just before the auditors were called in.

See also

cargo
container
delivered ex ship
ex ship
factory ship
free alongside ship
merchant ship
(Definition of ship from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of ship

ship
Total amount of separated but dirty waste must be greater than the total amount shipped to all the recycling centres plus exports.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Feeds are also shipped intercontinentally more frequently and in greater amounts by weight than are live cattle [15].
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Such a law would give more leverage to the craftsmen who constructed federal buildings, built ships, and fashioned armor plate.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The investigation highlighted difficulties with surveillance of respiratory illness on cruise ships.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The ships and docks evoke departures and arrivals ; the cemetery suggests bereavements ; the crowd scenes, frantic searches for missing characters.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The star exerts a strong gravitational force, which complicates the ship's manoeuvring.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
If litigation over the initial terms of hire was infrequent, mariners often complained when masters or merchants changed a ship's destination midvoyage.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
A variety of ships are available at each port.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Such a war involves _ an immense amount of material and transport ships.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
She had built around her a community identity as the rock upon which they launched their ships.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
They saw no sign of life on the berg nor on its ice-rafted ships, which appeared to have been abandoned.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The two ships had a very successful season in 1938 and the state guarantee was not required.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Another potential carrier would have been ships' ballast, especially from ships that were wrecked at the isthmus.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
However, market forces alone continue to determine the numbers of ships, voyages and tourists, and the size of ships, that visit the continent.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The play then re-enacts the moment of the ship's sinking, before finally projecting forward to the present indicated in the first quotation.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
See all examples of ship
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with ship

ship

These are words often used in combination with ship.

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alien ship
Gant and her team find what appears to be an alien ship, but which turns out to be a spy ship.
From
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
allied ships
He was moderately successful, sinking eight allied ships.
From
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
amphibious ships
We should no longer plan to replace our existing amphibious ships with new purpose-built vessels.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
See all collocations with ship
What is the pronunciation of ship, -ship?
 

Translations of ship

in Chinese (Traditional)
（尤指航海的）大船，輪船，艦, 運輸，運送, （表示頭銜、地位、技巧或關係）…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
（尤指航海的）大船，海轮，轮船，舰, 运输，运送, （表示头衔、地位、技巧或关系）…
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in Spanish
barco, buque, barco [masculine…
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in Portuguese
navio, navio [masculine], enviar…
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in more languages
in Marathi
in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Dutch
in Tamil
in Hindi
in Gujarati
in Danish
in Swedish
in Malay
in German
in Norwegian
in Urdu
in Ukrainian
in Telugu
in Bengali
in Czech
in Indonesian
in Thai
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in Polish
in Korean
in Italian
नौका / जहाज…
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（大型の）船, 船舶, 船（ふね）…
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gemi, göndermek, yollamak…
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navire [masculine], expédier, navire…
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vaixell…
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schip, per schip transporteren…
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தண்ணீரில், குறிப்பாக கடல் முழுவதும் பயணம் செய்வதற்கான ஒரு பெரிய படகு…
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जहाज़…
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વહાણ, જહાજ…
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skib, -skib, sende…
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skepp, fartyg, [luft]skepp…
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kapal, kapal angkasa lepas‘, dihantar menggunakan kapal…
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das Schiff, verschiffen…
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ship [neuter], sende, skip…
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بحری جہاز, بڑی کشتی…
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корабель, судно, човен…
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నౌక…
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জাহাজ, জলে ভ্রমণের জন্য একটি বড়ো নৌকো, যা বিশেষ করে সমুদ্র চলে…
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loď, plavidlo, dopravit lodí…
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kapal, kapal terbang, mengapalkan…
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เรือขนาดใหญ่, เครื่องบิน, โดยสารทางน้ำ…
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tàu thủy, tàu vũ trụ, máy bay…
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statek, wysyłać, przewozić…
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배…
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nave, spedire, inviare…
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shinnying
Shinto
shinty
shiny
ship
ship canal BETA
ship date
ship out phrasal verb
ship over BETA

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/ˌtɜːn əv ˈfreɪz/
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/ˌtɝːn əv ˈfreɪz/

a way of saying something

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