fifth-rate

alternative fifth rate

1. UKhistoricalnot comparablegovernmentOf a Royal Navy warship in the Napoleonic Era: having 32–44 guns across one or two gun decks, a complement of 200–300, and weighing 700–1,450 tons burthen.

   [A] great and ſtout Fleet before the Texel (and not as much as one of our Fourth or Fifth Rate-Frigats could follow them)[.]

   1677, Andrew Yarranton, England's improvement by sea and land, London: R. Everingham, page 96

2. idiomaticnot comparableuncommonTerrible, awful; less than fourth-rate.

   Synonyms: dismal, horrible, rubbish, abysmal, atrocious, awful, bad, chronic

plural fifth-rates · alternative fifth rate

1. UKhistoricalgovernmentA fifth-rate warship.