unship

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ ship.

Verb

unship (third-person singular simple present unships, present participle unshipping, simple past and past participle unshipped)

1. (nautical) To unload cargo from a ship or other vessel.
2. (nautical, transitive) To remove (an oar, a mast, etc.) from its normal position.
   • 1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous:

     Dan sluiced the pen energetically, unshipped the table, set it up to dry in the moonlight, ran the red knife-blades through a wad of oakum, and began to sharpen them on a tiny grindstone […]

3. (archaic) To throw from a horse; to unseat.
   • 1823 February 8, L. O., “Ballast”, in The Mirror‎^[1], number XV, page 240:

     Ben hired a nag, but 'twould stumble of course, / And by falling endanger poor Ben, / Aye, and over her bows, sir, this crazy old horse / Would unship, and unship him again.

   • 1901 October 11, “Gleanings”, in The Agricultural Journal and Mining Record‎^[2], volume 4, number 16, page 497:

     Before starting Mytton posted a wagoner at a spot on the "course" where the slope was steep, and gave him orders to cry "Whoa!" as the horses passed him. The man did so, with the result that two of the friends were unshipped by the abruptness of the stop to which their clumsy mounts came on hearing the familiar order.

Derived terms

• unshipment

Anagrams

• punish, push in, push-in, pushin'