take ship

idiomatic phrase

: to set out on a voyage by ship
… he spoke freely of his intention to start shortly for Liverpool and take ship for America.George Eliot
… where they built a canoe, paddled down the muddy Mississippi between unending reaches of lonely marsh and forest, and from New Orleans took ship to Virginia.Theodore Roosevelt
The idea of taking ship and heading off into the blue is, after all, a central part of the mythology of being English.Jonathan Raban

Word History

First Known Use

1530, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of take ship was in 1530

Dictionary Entries Near take ship

Cite this Entry

“Take ship.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/take%20ship. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on take ship

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!