shipping office
1
3.3
- noun
- Specialized
:
oficina de envío
- The shipping office helps sailors find work and coordinates shipping logistics.
Examples
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I found a job as a secretary in a shipping office.
Fiction book (2000) -
We've got to get to the shipping office before it closes.
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Uh, then I went to the shipping office.
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The shipping office is very important to me.
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I've been at the shipping office all day.
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And as I stood in the shipping office, looking over the contracts and reading the fine print, my hands still shaking from the unveiling of the chair, I heard a terrible crash.
Fiction book (2000) -
So, earlier today, after a redeye flight back from teaching on the West Coast, I drove over to the shipping office and picked up my package from Lou.
Blog text (24) -
Soon after the appearance of the ape, Mr. Rattler crept out the door to the offices of the sensational paper and then to the shipping office.
Fiction book (1999) -
Surrounded by a small cluster of his own aides, General Shahrough Akhavi was waiting for Taleh in front of the headquarters building, an old commercial shipping office taken over by the Army.
Fiction book (1996) -
After graduation, I went to the shipping office to apply for a position on a cargo ship.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'an office where shipping agents conduct business' is directly and compositionally derived from 'shipping' (commercial movement of cargo) modifying 'office' (a place of business). This head–modifier noun compound follows a common and predictable pattern in English (and similar patterns exist in other languages), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The noun shipping office comes from small offices at the harbor where shipping meant work for ships. Sailors went there to be 'hired' and the staff would 'arrange' cargo and crew, so the phrase means a place for ship business and hiring seamen.