Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A ship with a powerful light or warning signals that is anchored in dangerous waters to alert other vessels.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A vessel riding at anchor and displaying a light for the guidance of mariners, in a position where the bottom or the depth would render a fixed lighthouse-structure impracticable.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Naut.) A vessel equipped like a lighthouse, carrying at the masthead a brilliant light, and moored off a shoal or place of dangerous navigation where a permanent lighthouse would be impracticable, to serve as a guide for mariners.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
ship equipped with a very largelamp ; it can be positioned to warn off other ships from dangerous locations, as a sort of portablelighthouse .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a ship equipped like a lighthouse and anchored where a permanent lighthouse would be impracticable
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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To reach the Elbe from the west you nave to go right outside this, round the lightship, which is off the Scharhorn, and double back.
The Riddle of the Sands Childers, Erskine, 1870-1922 1955
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Given the intrusion of the presidential race on the crustacean calendar early last week, we and other pectinophiles delayed gratifying our jones for Nantucket Island's only distinctive export (besides hand-woven "lightship" baskets) until Wednesday.
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Mandarins, clumsy in the weak mortar lightship, stumbled against the waistband as if it were just then being discovered, while other, livelier, sours, shouted and slapped the castanet during spontaneous bid-quoting contingencies and then became very quintet and watchful.
Farouche Matt Dennison 2011
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Dearing had just returned from a voyage to South America, and had last been spotted just south of Hatteras by a lightship ...
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It was a small ship with a big name, previously having served as a lightship tender.
Civil War Papercrafts | Papercraft Paradise | PaperCrafts | Paper Models | Card Models Michael James 2008
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That lightship there leading the speculation that perhaps it may be used as part of the memorial.
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As we passed the lightship at the western end of the Goodwins the fine weather left us, and in its place came the south-west wind with rain, fog, and foul weather in its train.
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And far on Kish bank the anchored lightship twinkled, winked at Mr Bloom.
Nick Mamatas' Journal nihilistic_kid 2009
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A pink and blue June morning found me at Bradgate looking from the Griffin Hotel over a smooth sea to the lightship on the Cock sands which seemed the size of a bell-buoy.
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American diplomacy — and not far from Treaty Point came upon a red lightship with the words “Treaty Point” in large letters upon her.
Unbeaten Tracks in Japan Isabella Lucy 2004
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