Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The rounded portion of a ship's hull, forming a transition between the bottom and the sides.
  • noun The lowest inner part of a ship's hull.
  • noun Bilge water.
  • noun Slang Stupid talk or writing; nonsense.
  • noun The bulging part of a barrel or cask.
  • intransitive verb Nautical To spring a leak in the bilge.
  • intransitive verb To bulge or swell.
  • intransitive verb Nautical To break open the bilge of.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The wider part or belly of a cask, which is usually in the middle.
  • noun The breadth of a ship's bottom, or that part of her floor which approaches a horizontal direction, and on which she would rest if aground.
  • Nautical, to suffer a fracture in the bilge; spring a leak by a fracture in the bilge.
  • To bulge or swell out.
  • To break or stave in (the bilge or bottom of a ship).

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The protuberant part of a cask, which is usually in the middle.
  • noun (Naut.) That part of a ship's hull or bottom which is broadest and most nearly flat, and on which she would rest if aground.
  • noun Bilge water.
  • noun (Naut.) stowed in such a way that the bilge is clear of everything; -- said of a cask.
  • noun a pump to draw the bilge water from the gold of a ship.
  • noun (Naut.) water which collects in the bilge or bottom of a ship or other vessel. It is often allowed to remain till it becomes very offensive.
  • noun the timbers which support the cradle of a ship upon the ways, and which slide upon the launching ways in launching the vessel.
  • transitive verb (Naut.) To fracture the bilge of, or stave in the bottom of (a ship or other vessel).
  • transitive verb To cause to bulge.
  • intransitive verb (Naut.) To suffer a fracture in the bilge; to spring a leak by a fracture in the bilge.
  • intransitive verb To bulge.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun nautical The rounded portion of a ship's hull, forming a transition between the bottom and the sides.
  • noun nautical The lowest inner part of a ship's hull.
  • noun uncountable The water accumulated in the bilge, the bilge water.
  • noun slang, uncountable Stupid talk or writing; nonsense.
  • noun The bulging part of a barrel or cask.
  • verb nautical, intransitive To spring a leak in the bilge.
  • verb intransitive To bulge or swell.
  • verb nautical, transitive To break open the bilge(s) of.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb take in water at the bilge
  • noun water accumulated in the bilge of a ship
  • noun where the sides of the vessel curve in to form the bottom
  • verb cause to leak

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably alteration of bulge.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

A nautical/shipbuilding term, likely derived from bulge.

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Examples

  • "I did not say salt water, lad, I said bilge -- a fathom o '_bilge_ water," interrupted the captain, who, although secretly rejoiced at the fact of his son having fallen over head and ears in love with the pretty little Cocos-Keeling islander, deemed it his duty, nevertheless, as a sternly upright parent, to make quite sure that the love was mutual as well as deep before giving his consent to anything like courtship.

    Blown to Bits The Lonely Man of Rakata, the Malay Archipelago 1859

  • Im sure you used all your mental capacity to dig up such bilge from the depths of your feeble education.

    Should School Kids Listen to a Speech By President Obama? 2009

  • Bilge rat – The bilge is the lowest level of the ship.

    Archive 2008-09-01 Zenmomma 2008

  • Bilge rat – The bilge is the lowest level of the ship.

    Thursday Thirteen - The ARRRGHHHH! edition Zenmomma 2008

  • They still seem to believe that anti-immigrant nativist bilge is a big vote winner for them:

    Archive 2008-03-01 2008

  • Perhaps one of the reasons why rich men like Soros are able to get away with such bilge is that they are surrounded by sycophants and gold-diggers, who either will not, or fear to, tell them that they are wrong.

    Little Red Riding Hood would not be amused Richard 2006

  • Now go read the bilge from the Democratic Underground, or this thread, titled “Hussein Challenges Bush to Debate – which facist speaks better english …”

    Balloon Juice » 2003 » February 2003

  • Instead, USS USA was pirated because Congress was down in bilge giving blowjobs to big campaign donors.

    Matthew Yglesias » Kristof on Nationalization 2009

  • To bilge = to be stove in, or suffer serious injury in the bilge, which is the bottom part of a ship's hull.

    Anson's Voyage Round the World The Text Reduced Richard Walter

  • In the "Dimbula" there were four stringers on each side -- one far down by the bottom of the hold, called the bilge stringer; one a little higher up, called the side stringer; one on the floor of the lower deck; and the upper-deck stringers that have been heard from already.

    McClure's Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 4, March, 1896 Various

Comments

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  • Worthless talk or writing, tripe; blah. From a seafaring term, universally known by 1920: to fail or expel a student.

    July 16, 2008