Flying Dutchman
3
9.9
- noun
- /ˈflaɪɪŋ ˈdʌtʃmən/
- Literature
:
Holandés Errante
- Sailors often tell stories about the Flying Dutchman, a ghost ship said to be cursed to sail the seas forever.
Examples
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The Flying Dutchman.
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In many maritime tales, the Flying Dutchman appears as a spectral ship, warning sailors of impending storms.
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Some sort of Flying Dutchman?
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One can't live as the flying Dutchman and never touch land; the sea will not provide everything one needs.
Blog text (20) -
A few centuries would pass, and this flying republic would gain mythic status like the Flying Dutchman.
Fiction book (1998) -
The Flying Dutchman!
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I am brother to the Wandering Jew, the Flying Dutchman, and Marley's Ghost.
Fiction book (2001) -
I came to believe we would never get off the road, that we would come to a point where we could go neither forward nor backward, and yet we would be walking still: we would be prisoners, helpless and hopeless, and like the Flying Dutchman or Wandering Jew, condemned forever to navigate this endless ribbon to nowhere.
Academic text (2009) -
Keenan would not have appreciated the way he'd been libeled, a portrayal combining equal aspects of Fred C. Dobbs, the Flying Dutchman, and Rumpelstiltskin.
Fiction book (2001) -
Legend has it that if you spot the Flying Dutchman, it is an omen of bad luck for sailors.
Synonyms
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9.9
A ghost or spirit in Caribbean stories, especially in Jamaica
A scary spirit from Caribbean stories that frightens people
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a fixed proper name for a legendary ghost ship and captain; the overall meaning (a cursed ship doomed to sail forever) is not derivable from the literal constituents 'flying' and 'Dutchman', which would more likely suggest a Dutch person who is flying. The sense is culturally and historically specific (idiomatic/proper noun) and requires prior knowledge or exposure rather than being predictable from the parts.
Etymology
Flying Dutchman comes from a sea legend about a Dutch ship that seemed to 'fly' over the waves but could never reach land. One popular story says its captain was 'cursed' to sail forever, so the name now means a 'ghost ship' said to be a bad sign for sailors.