Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A small bag used by sailors for needles, thread, and similar articles; a housewife.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A sailor's small bag to hold thread, needles, tape, etc.; -- also called
sailor's housewife .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun kit used by sailors and soldiers
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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There was no whiskey, so far as I ever knew, except a small flask containing about one gill which I had been given with a ditty-bag for the journey.
A Canyon Voyage The Narrative of the Second Powell Expedition down the Green-Colorado River from Wyoming, and the Explorations on Land, in the Years 1871 and 1872 Frederick S. Dellenbaugh
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So he took all his meager belongings, which he could easily carry in a blanket roll and a sailor's ditty-bag, and went down half an hour before sailing time.
Burned Bridges Bertrand W. Sinclair 1926
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He pulled out a little ditty-bag and carefully extracted a bit of newspaper.
The Valley of Vision : a Book of Romance an Some Half Told Tales Henry Van Dyke 1892
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Scudamore -- excuse me, madam -- 'tis the Devil to a ditty-bag that I have her at my mercy.
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And don't neglect to take what sailors call a "ditty-bag."
Woodcraft George Washington Sears 1855
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The next cast was a small one, being a sailor's little "ditty-bag," containing needles, thread, and other sewing utensils; then came a razor-case, followed by two or three separate plugs of negro-head, which were fished up from the bottom of the now empty receptacle.
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There was a large wash-deck tub on the forecastle which I knew to be water-tight, and it struck me that this might be utilised to float the dry provisions until the dinghy could pick them up; so -- first making sure of the position of the boat -- I dived below and routed out of Dominguez 'bunk a large canvas ditty-bag that I had often seen there, and, emptying out the clothing which it contained, proceeded to fill it with bread and such other provisions as I could most readily lay hands on.
A Pirate of the Caribbees Harry Collingwood 1886
chained_bear commented on the word ditty-bag
"...this was during the afternoon watch of a make-and-mend day: and many of the younger, more ardent Surprises flung down their needles, thread, thimbles and ditty-bags. They ran eagerly aloft..."
--Patrick O'Brian, The Nutmeg of Consolation, 233
March 9, 2008