ship-shape

comparative more ship-shape · superlative most ship-shape

1. archaicArchaic spelling of shipshape.

   SHIP-shape, in a seaman-like manner; as "That mast is not rigged ship-shape;" "Put her about ship-shape," &c.

   [1801, J. J. Moore, “SHIP-shape”, in The British Mariner’s Vocabulary, […], London: […] T. Hurst [et al.], →OCLC

   1 more example

   [I]t would have been more ship-shape to lower the bight of a rope, or a running bow-line, below me, than to seize an old sea-man by his head-lanyard; [...]

   1823, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter V, in The Pioneers, or The Sources of the Susquehanna; […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: Charles Wiley; […], →OCLC, page 83

comparative more ship-shape · superlative most ship-shape

1. archaicArchaic spelling of shipshape.

   No—sir—if I sink, I sink; but d——e, I'll go down ship-shape and with dignity.

   1840, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter XV, in The Pathfinder: Or, The Inland Sea. […], volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea and Blanchard, →OCLC, page 233

   1 more example

   Some of you have n't sense enough to put a blanket ship-shape over a sick man. There! Leave it alone! I can die anyhow!

   1897, Joseph Conrad, chapter II, in The Children of the Sea: A Tale of the Forecastle, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, →OCLC, page 48