Meanings
plural shipmates
- nauticalA fellow sailor serving on the same ship as another.
But the feeling certainly does not extend to a shipmate who dobs his cobber in for a draft from a happy ship!
1960, J. E. Macdonnell, Don't Gimme the Ships, Melbourne: Horwitz Publications, page 491 more example
"And who else?" returned the other, getting more at his ease. "Black Dog as ever was, come for to see his old shipmate Billy, at the 'Admiral Benbow' inn. Ah, Bill, Bill, we have seen a sight of times, us two, since I lost them two talons," holding up his mutilated hand.
1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC - informalnauticalAny sailor (when used as a form of address by a sailor).
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*sek-?
- Proto-Indo-European*skey-der.?
- Proto-Germanic*skipą
- Proto-West Germanic*skip
- Old Englishscip
- Middle Englishschip
- Englishship
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
- Proto-Germanic*ga-
- Proto-Germanic*matiz
- Proto-Germanic*matjô
- Proto-West Germanic*gamatjô
- Old Saxongimato
- Middle Low Germanmate
- Middle Englishmate
- Englishmate
- Englishshipmate
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
shipmate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shipmate
“shipmate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shipmate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shipmate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shipmate.
Source: shipmate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.