to dress ship
- phrasal verb
- Specialized
:
decorar el barco
- As the sun set, they began to dress ship with colorful flags and streamers.
Examples
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-Mr. Fryer, dress ship.
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Dress ship!
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The crew was excited to dress ship for the annual maritime festival.
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Every year, the harbor celebrates by asking all ships to dress ship during the parade.
Synonyms
1
4.9
To decorate a place with pieces of cloth for a celebration
How Decorated
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb 'dress' meaning 'to decorate' combined with the noun 'ship' yields a directly compositional meaning of decorating a ship, so a learner who knows both words can infer the phrase. While it is a specialized nautical collocation (often implying decorating with flags for ceremonies), that specific detail does not prevent a B1 learner from understanding the general meaning from the constituents.
Etymology
Dress ship comes from the image of sailors using the word dress like 'put on clothes' and covering a ship with flags like clothing. That's why dress ship means 'to decorate a ship with flags' for a ceremony.