MERCHANT SHIP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does merchant ship mean? 

• MERCHANT SHIP (noun)
  The noun MERCHANT SHIP has 1 sense:

1. a cargo ship

  Familiarity information: MERCHANT SHIP used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MERCHANT SHIP (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A cargo ship

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

bottom; freighter; merchant ship; merchantman

Context example:

they did much of their overseas trade in foreign bottoms

Hypernyms ("merchant ship" is a kind of...):

cargo ship; cargo vessel (a ship designed to carry cargo)

 Context examples 

I took leave of my wife, and boy and girl, with tears on both sides, and went on board the Adventure, a merchant ship of three hundred tons, bound for Surat, captain John Nicholas, of Liverpool, commander.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)