shore duty

1 5.5

Work at a navy base on land instead of on a ship

noun

Jargon

: servicio en tierra

Unlike duty at sea, when a sailor serves on shore duty, he or she normally finds a local parish and goes to church.

Do you think maybe everybody in the shore duty position is going through something like you and they just don't fucking care about anything?

Examples

"Nice thing about shore duty—once you get off duty, you're very nearly a civilian.

Fiction book (1999)
There is a great need for them, whether on shore duty, at sea, or in combat.

Blog text (12)
Upon graduation, the band would be transferred to either ship or shore duty.

Academic text (2015)
Rosselli blew his nose and contemplated the shore duty that the remainder of his active career held.

Fiction book (1991)
After three months of training, he was finally assigned to shore duty at the naval base.
During shore duty, sailors often participate in community service activities on land.
She enjoyed her time spent on shore duty, where she could reconnect with her family.

Surface Forms

shore duty singular

shore duties plural

Morphology

shore + duty

The meaning 'naval service performed at a land base' is directly derivable from combining 'shore' (land at the edge of water) with 'duty' (service/responsibility), i.e. a duty carried out on shore rather than at sea. This is a straightforward compositional pattern (land-based service) found across languages and would be predictable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.

Etymology

Shore duty comes from the simple picture of sailors doing their duty on the shore, the 'land', instead of 'on a ship'. So it means 'service at a land base' rather than 'on a ship'.