purser rigged and parish damned
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]purser (“ship mate in charge of accounting for passengers aboard”) + rigged (“fixed”) + parish (“meaning church community ashore”) + damned (“forsaken”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Adjective
[edit]purser rigged and parish damned
- (obsolete, nautical, slang) Having joined the United States Navy, either because of destitution or in order to flee problems on land.
- 1850, Herman Melville, White-Jacket, page 352:
- “Purser rigged and parish damned,” is the sailor saying in the American Navy, when the tyro first mounts the lined frock and blue jacket, aptly manufactured for him in a State Prison ashore.
References
[edit]- “purser rigged and parish damned” from the pirate dictionary.