Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb Midway between the bow and the stern.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In or toward the middle of a ship, or that part which is midway between the stem and the stern.
- In the middle line of a ship; over and in line with the keel: as, to put the helm amid ships.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adverb (Naut.) In the middle of a ship, with regard to her length, and sometimes also her breadth.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adverb nautical In the
middle of aship , eitherlongitudinally orlaterally . - adverb nautical Usually in the
line of thekeel , but sometimes halfway betweenbow andstern ; often contracted to “midships.” (FM 55-501). - adverb figuratively On the flank, at a vulnerable place.
- interjection A
helm order , normallyshortened to midships!, tocentre the helm in theline of thekeel .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adverb at or near or toward the center of a ship
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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The sides of the ships are protected by iron plating of eight-inch thickness amidships, which is an inch more of iron than the armour possessed by the majority of our masted sea-going ironclads, many of which are twice or thrice the size of the _Cyclops_ and her sister-ships.
Man on the Ocean A Book about Boats and Ships R. [Illustrator] Richardson 1859
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"amidships" as Sahwah would have expressed it, and she wept over the linens in the cedar chest.
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Our men, clustering amidships, waved their hats and raised a derisive cheer.
Chapter 25 2010
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Wolf Larsen went amidships and took the coil of the throat-halyards from its pin.
Chapter 25 2010
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From amidships, revolver in hand, the mate was springing toward him.
A SON OF THE SUN 2010
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At either end of the canoe there was room to spare, but amidships
CHAPTER 25 2010
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The Storstad somehow rammed the Empress amidships.
Bird Cloud Annie Proulx 2011
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Frona lay, head thrown back, sobbing at the sun; amidships Corliss sprawled panting; and forward, choking and gasping and nerveless, the
CHAPTER 25 2010
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The Storstad somehow rammed the Empress amidships.
Bird Cloud Annie Proulx 2011
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In the bow was Kerfoot, Oofty-Oofty in the stern, and Kelly amidships.
Chapter 17 2010
sarra commented on the word amidships
“Noël Coward singing three of his wartime songs, accompanied fore and aft by an orchestra conducted by Carroll Gibbons, and amidships by the Piccadilly Theatre Orchestra conducted by Mantovani.”
—Donald Macleod, Composer of the Week, BBC Radio 3 (30th April 2008)
May 1, 2008