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Shipshape   Listen
adjective
Shipshape  adj.  Arranged in a manner befitting a ship; hence, trim; tidy; orderly. "Even then she expressed her scorn for the lubbery executioner's mode of tying a knot, and did it herself in a shipshape orthodox manner." "Keep everything shipshape, for I must go"






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Shipshape" Quotes from Famous Books



... methodize, regulate, systematize. Adj. orderly, regular; in order, in trim, in apple-pie order, in its proper place; neat, tidy, en regle [Fr.], well regulated, correct, methodical, uniform, symmetrical, shipshape, businesslike, systematic; unconfused &c (confuse) &c 61; arranged &c 60. Adv. in order; methodically &c adj.; in turn, in its turn; by steps, step by step; by regular steps, by regular gradations, by regular stages, by regular intervals; seriatim, ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget

... promised. "I know how to make things neat and pretty and keep them shipshape. You just keep your eye on the Sawdust Pile, sir." The old wind-bitten face flushed with pride; the faded sea-blue eyes shone with joyous anticipation. "I've observed your pride in your town, sir, and before I get through, I'll have a prettier place ...
— Kindred of the Dust • Peter B. Kyne

... paintings with which his wife delighted to surround the home-life in an atmosphere of artistic adornment and suggestion; and, as the quarters were very small, the effect was one of mingled homeliness and refinement. Bridge soon joined them, and devoted himself in a practical way to making things shipshape, providing necessary closets and shelves out of packing boxes, and generally eking out the interior arrangements with a sailor's ready ingenuity. Outside there was a barnyard, and a two-story hencoop to be put to rights, with its brood of pet chickens ...
— Nathaniel Hawthorne • George E. Woodberry

... which had been built by the Doctor's party. How did we know who had built and occupied these igloos? It was easy, as an Esquimo knows and recognizes another Esquimo's handwork, the same as you recognize the handwriting of your friends. I noted the neat, orderly, shipshape condition of the Captain's igloo, and the empty cocoa-tins scattered around the Doctor's igloo. The Doctor was the only one who had cocoa as an article ...
— A Negro Explorer at the North Pole • Matthew A. Henson

... a share in Dorothy's new garden in case Mrs. Morton needs more flowers for the house; and the arrangement I suggest makes the yard look much more shipshape." ...
— Ethel Morton's Enterprise • Mabell S.C. Smith

... to talk matters over. "We'll have to depend for a living on fish, turtles, and fruit. We have no natives to fear, and our situation is not so bad as it might be. Now we had better set about matters in a shipshape and orderly fashion. In the first place we will name our island. There's nothing like having an address where your friends can write to you," he ...
— Bob the Castaway • Frank V. Webster

... and help you to wash up?' she said, when he collected the tin pots and pannikins and proceeded to get the camp shipshape. No, she was not to stir a finger towards the dirty work. It was HIS job to-night. Another camping-out time she might play the squaw if she liked. She was not on ...
— Lady Bridget in the Never-Never Land • Rosa Praed

... you please!" the old man smiled quietly. "Jerry is my handle, young sirs, just Jerry. About signing on, now. I've never put to sea yet, young sirs, but what I've been entered shipshape and Bristol fashion, and I'm not going to start wrong at this time o' life. I want to be on the ship's articles as quartermaster, that's all—that's all. I got my discharges all proper, and if we should lose an officer, I've ...
— The Pirate Shark • Elliott Whitney

... my mother and sister use for their boudoir," he said graciously. "It's full of long mirrors, and you can have all the electric light you want, but the furniture's covered up. The dining-room and my den are the only places that are shipshape, I'm afraid." ...
— Winnie Childs - The Shop Girl • C. N. Williamson

... Hovland's Bay, where our pilot, Hovland, [18] lived. Next morning the boat davits, etc., were put in good working order. The Fram, however, was too heavily laden to be at all easy in a seaway; but this we could not alter. What we had we must keep, and if we only got everything on deck shipshape and properly lashed, the sea could not do us much harm, however rough it might be; for we knew well enough that ship ...
— Farthest North - Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship 'Fram' 1893-1896 • Fridtjof Nansen

... reassuring, and little Ally Bazan, the colonial, told me they would "snatch her shipshape in the shorter end o' two days, ...
— A Deal in Wheat - And Other Stories of the New and Old West • Frank Norris

... on this voyage without a single real seaman to help you. You'd never have got home alive if I hadn't come—Why look at your mainsail, Sir—all loose at the throat. First gust of wind come along, and away goes your canvas overboard—Well, it's all right now I'm here. We'll soon get things in shipshape." ...
— The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle • Hugh Lofting

... the place, with a priming and two coats of white paint, and a natty gate to go in by with brass hinges. The whole settlement turned out, Iosefo outdoing himself, and the king butting in with an address, and everything shipshape and Bristol fashion, as sailors say. We didn't have no flowers, and the whole business was sort of home-made and amateur, but Sarah made up for the lack of them by pegging out the grave with little poles, and streamers which gave quite a gay look to it, and fluttered ...
— Wild Justice: Stories of the South Seas • Lloyd Osbourne

... your lives, anyway," declared Archie cheerfully, when their derision had spent itself. "And I'm going to again. I hired a lovely scrub-lady to come to-morrow and make this spot look shipshape—" ...
— The Wide Awake Girls in Winsted • Katharine Ellis Barrett

... uniform, and set out again for Chelsea. There he took a boat, and crossed the river to the yacht, which lay near the other side, in charge of an old salt whose acquaintance Blue Peter had made when lying below the bridges.. On board he found all tidy and shipshape He dived into the cabin, lighted a candle, and made some measurements: all the little luxuries of the nest, carpets, cushions, curtains, and other things, were at Lossie House, having been removed when the Psyche was laid up for the winter: he was going to replace them. And he was anxious to see ...
— The Marquis of Lossie • George MacDonald

... when he goes away for the long winter at the South, does not leave his house to the mercy of the winter storms until he has first repaired it. Large fresh sticks are wedged in firmly across the top of the nest; doubtful ones are pulled out and carefully replaced, and the whole structure made shipshape for stormy weather. This careful repair, together with the fact that the nest is always well soaked in oil, which preserves it from the rain, saves a deal of trouble for Ismaques. He builds for life and knows, when he goes away in the fall, that, barring ...
— Wood Folk at School • William J. Long

... look a little shipshape. To begin with, the roof had been repaired, and Frank believed it would turn water in any storm short of a cloud-burst. Then the door also was swinging on two hinges, one of stout leather, also carried in Frank's pack ...
— The Outdoor Chums at Cabin Point - or The Golden Cup Mystery • Quincy Allen

... the 'bachelor side,' while the portion to the left he designated as the 'married side.' The right half might have suggested a forecastle, and was neat and clean, with sanded floors and everything coiled up and stowed away in true shipshape fashion. But the other half was viewed by Captain Abner as something in the quarter-deck style. Exactly half the hall was carpeted, and the little parlor opening from it was also carpeted, painted, and papered, ...
— John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein • Frank R. Stockton

... answers were brief and given through closed teeth. At length, Captain Page exclaimed, "Old Neptune, this will never do. Give him a speaking trumpet also, and let him answer according to rule, and in shipshape fashion, so that we can all ...
— Jack in the Forecastle • John Sherburne Sleeper

... fixed," he cried, and then slid off holding to the saddle for he was stiff and spent. "The place is ready and I've found a doctor and got him nailed. It'll be all clean and shipshape for you. How's Low?" ...
— The Emigrant Trail • Geraldine Bonner

... tell you about M. Nerincx's currency system; how he issued paper promises to pay when he gave employment to the idle in repairing those houses which permitted of being repaired, and cleaned the streets of debris, till ruined Louvain looked as shipshape as ruined Pompeii; and how he got a little real money from Brussels to stop depreciation when the storekeepers came to him and said that they had stacks of his notes which no ...
— My Year of the War • Frederick Palmer

... "Now all's shipshape for the night," said Pan as he spread out his armful of feathers into a bunchy line on the edge of the bin. "Just throw them about two double handfulls of mixed corn and wheat down in the hay litter ...
— The Golden Bird • Maria Thompson Daviess

... the dressing room of a circus, Teddy. This is the living room of a couple of young gentlemen. Let's not forget that. Let us try to keep our cabin looking nice and shipshape, else Mr. Sparling will think we do not ...
— The Circus Boys On the Mississippi • Edgar B. P. Darlington

... dainty little cabin. Her planks were almost white—there was not a board in her off which one might not, as the Partan expanded the common phrase, "ait his parritch, an' never fin' a mote in 's mou'." Her cordage was all so clean, her standing rigging so taut, everything so shipshape, that Malcolm was in raptures. If the burn had only been navigable so that he might have towed the graceful creature home and laid her up under the very walls of the House! It would have perfected the place in his eyes. ...
— Malcolm • George MacDonald

... treated us, if we had been caught doing the same thing to you—ha, ha!" And the man laughed at what he considered a very good joke. "But come along, mister officer, we'll try you by judge and jury all fair and shipshape to-morrow morning, and if you're found guilty, you'll have no cause to complain," added the pirate, as he in no ceremonious manner dragged the poor ...
— Paul Gerrard - The Cabin Boy • W.H.G. Kingston

... knock it to him, and probably the shave-tail would be so pleased that he would fork out an extra ten; but if he was plainly vented as one of the boys, there would be just enough pay in the return to encourage him. Now, Jones did everything shipshape and in style. Here's the ...
— Red Saunders' Pets and Other Critters • Henry Wallace Phillips

... and to stern; pennants for topmasts; the Stars and Stripes in beautiful silk for a standard, and a gorgeous banner with an embroidered A and M intertwined, for special occasions. Flowers were placed in the cabins, and food in the lockers. The seamen had been aboard, made the yacht clean and shipshape as a war vessel on parade, and had got permission to leave for their last night ashore. Everything was in readiness, even to the laying of the fire in the ...
— The Stolen Singer • Martha Idell Fletcher Bellinger

... Roger!" said Astro. He set the power-deck controls on automatic, and then, with a quick look around to make sure everything was shipshape, he climbed the ladder to the ...
— Sabotage in Space • Carey Rockwell

... mislay his things. He knows so well where they are that he can "go straight to them in the dark." Such a man is careful of his tools and keeps his work-bench or desk "shipshape." A woman of this type is an excellent housekeeper. Her sewing basket, dresser drawers and pantry shelves are all ...
— How to Analyze People on Sight - Through the Science of Human Analysis: The Five Human Types • Elsie Lincoln Benedict and Ralph Paine Benedict

... fighting in these hills. Twelve English, a hundred thousand Sniders run through the Amir's country in dribblets—I'd be content with twenty thousand in one year—and we'd be an Empire. When everything was shipshape, I'd hand over the crown—this crown I'm wearing now—to Queen Victoria on my knees, and she'd say: "Rise up, Sir Daniel Dravot." Oh, it's big! It's big, I tell you! But there's so much to be done in every place—Bashkai, ...
— Short Stories Old and New • Selected and Edited by C. Alphonso Smith

... us fairly in order," he said, with a pride that did not pretend to conceal itself. "Nothing you wouldn't call shipshape?" ...
— The Devil's Garden • W. B. Maxwell

... cruise was in many respects successful. In the first place, we gained familiarity with the vessel, and got everything shipshape for the long voyage to come; but the best of all was, that we acquired valuable experience of our auxiliary engine. This is a 180 h.p. Diesel motor, constructed for solar oil, of which we were taking about 90,000 litres (about 19,800 gallons). In this connection it may be mentioned that ...
— The South Pole, Volumes 1 and 2 • Roald Amundsen

... had just risen above the Persian mountains. And although the slit sleeves of the fourteen oarsmen, all of them young and none of them ill to look upon, flapped decoratively enough about the handles of the sweeps, they could not be said to present a shipshape appearance. Neither did the black felt caps the boatmen wore, fantastically tall and knotted about their heads with gay ...
— The Best Short Stories of 1917 - and the Yearbook of the American Short Story • Various

... drawing back and in profiting from a retreat by putting everything in shipshape order to bring about a new grouping of forces. They would allow the Germans to advance, and when the occasion showed itself favorable the French armies, along with the British army, would take the offensive and wage ...
— The Story of the Great War, Volume III (of 12) - The War Begins, Invasion of Belgium, Battle of the Marne • Francis J. Reynolds, Allen L. Churchill, and Francis Trevelyan

... Peterson standing near the saloon's door, and bethought me to send Jean Lafitte up to aid him in making all shipshape. We were beginning to roll; and I missed the smooth thrust of both our propellors, although now the engines were purring smoothly enough. Thus by mere chance, I found myself alone with Helena. I put out a hand to steady her as ...
— The Lady and the Pirate - Being the Plain Tale of a Diligent Pirate and a Fair Captive • Emerson Hough

... to be done," said Henry Burns, speaking with the utmost gravity, "I suppose we might as well go along and see that it's done right and shipshape;" and he arose from his chair. So, too, ...
— The Rival Campers Ashore - The Mystery of the Mill • Ruel Perley Smith

... Diego under two or three months. Some of the Pilgrim's crew found old ship-mates aboard of her, and spent an hour or two in her forecastle, the evening before she sailed. They said her decks were as white as snow—holystoned every morning, like a man-of-war's; everything on board "shipshape and Bristol fashion;" a fine crew, three mates, a sailmaker and carpenter, and all complete. "They've got a man for mate of that ship, and not a bloody sheep about decks!"—"A mate that knows his duty, and makes ...
— Two Years Before the Mast • Richard Henry Dana

... and these were filled with people. Glory, who acted as eyes for the old man, never told him of unpleasant things, and, indeed, scarcely saw them herself. To her, everything was beautiful and everybody kind, and in their own tiny home, at least, everything was scrupulously clean and shipshape. ...
— A Sunny Little Lass • Evelyn Raymond

... taken the brig so far down the firth soon died away, and we rocked gently south of Ailsa Craig. In the hold folk were busy getting things in some sort of order, while on deck the sailors were putting everything in shipshape. This breathing spell was fortunate, for at dark the wind came in squalls, and on rounding the Mull of Cantyre the ocean swells sent most of the passengers to their berths seasick. I escaped and was able ...
— The Narrative of Gordon Sellar Who Emigrated to Canada in 1825 • Gordon Sellar

... of hard work is what you will find most of aboard ship. Carry on and do your duty; keep a sharp lookout, all gear shipshape, salute the bridge when going on watch, that is the whole duty of a good officer. That's plenty theology for a seaman." But the skipper's eye turned brightly toward his bookshelves, where he had several volumes of sermons, mostly of a ...
— Where the Blue Begins • Christopher Morley

... and went on with their work, the same as if they considered my case all complete and shipshape. I was a good deal surprised at this, but I was diffident about speaking up and reminding them. I did so hate to do it, you know; it seemed a pity to bother them, they had so much on their hands. Twice I thought I would give up and let the thing ...
— Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven • Mark Twain

... out. Wish I knew who drinks my whiskey—Made sail at daylight; difficult work, this handling sail below decks; can't see aloft, must feel when sheets are home; don't like these new fangled rolling topsails that furl themselves; they're not shipshape, but we're too short-handed for ...
— The Grain Ship • Morgan Robertson

... would, Bensie," said Polly, well pleased, for Polly dearly loved everything kept mended up, and "shipshape," as Mrs. Pepper used to say. "I'll spread the paper down so you don't get any mess on the floor." So she ran to the pile of old weekly newspapers her mother always saved, when any of the Badgertown people sent ...
— The Adventures of Joel Pepper • Margaret Sidney

... no use for us to stand here cawing like a lot "of crows, when nobody knows what the one next to him is saying. I go in for havin' this thing done right, if we're goin' to do it at all. The girls have got the best of us now, an' if any of you think we can turn things around, let's go to work shipshape." ...
— A District Messenger Boy and a Necktie Party • James Otis

... half-past twelve others. This is one of the some. There, there, son, you're so sleepy this minute that you've got a list to starboard. When you and I have that talk that's comin' to us we want to be shipshape and on an even keel. Rachel, light ...
— The Portygee • Joseph Crosby Lincoln



Words linked to "Shipshape" :   trim, well-kept, tidy



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