abandoned ship
5
6.3
- noun
- /əˈbændənd ʃɪp/
:
barco abandonado
- After the fire broke out, passengers were terrified and began to abandon ship in lifeboats.
- the crew abandoned ship
- the captain abandoned ship
- the officers abandoned ship
Examples
-
According to the log, the crew abandoned ship right after takeoff.
-
They thought they were sinking, so they abandoned ship.
-
900 of the 1,197 aboard managed to abandon ship, leaving some 300 to go down with the ship.
Blog text (11) -
They abandoned ship after the HMS Bounty began taking on water and lost propulsion in the storm.
Blog text (30) -
Rescue teams have all but given up hope for the crew of the British freighter Agincourt, who abandoned ship five days ago two hundred miles off Cape Constance.
Fiction book (1994) -
The crew had no choice but to abandon ship when they realized it was taking on water.
-
In the chaos of the storm, the captain ordered everyone to abandon ship immediately.
Synonyms
18
7.7
An old ship that is broken and left to rust
1
9.1
An abandoned ship that drifts without a crew
Antonyms
How Deserted
5
6.3
- Specialized
1
9.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase is transparently compositional: 'abandoned' (left vacant/deserted) qualifies 'ship' (a vessel), so the meaning 'a ship left deserted by its crew' follows directly from the constituents. This adjective+noun pattern is regular and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Abandoned ship comes from the image of sailors leaving a damaged ship and walking away, so the ship is abandoned and drifts away. That's why the phrase means 'a ship left deserted by its crew and owners'.