BILGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bilge mean? 

• BILGE (noun)
  The noun BILGE has 2 senses:

1. water accumulated in the bilge of a ship

2. where the sides of the vessel curve in to form the bottom

  Familiarity information: BILGE used as a noun is rare.

• BILGE (verb)
  The verb BILGE has 2 senses:

1. cause to leak

2. take in water at the bilge

  Familiarity information: BILGE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BILGE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Water accumulated in the bilge of a ship

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

bilge; bilge water

Hypernyms ("bilge" is a kind of...):

H2O; water (binary compound that occurs at room temperature as a clear colorless odorless tasteless liquid; freezes into ice below 0 degrees centigrade and boils above 100 degrees centigrade; widely used as a solvent)

Derivation:

bilge (take in water at the bilge)

bilgy (smelling like bilge water)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Where the sides of the vessel curve in to form the bottom

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("bilge" is a kind of...):

bottom; underside; undersurface (the lower side of anything)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bilge"):

bilges (in a vessel with two hulls, an enclosed area between the frames at each side)

Holonyms ("bilge" is a part of...):

vessel; watercraft (a craft designed for water transportation)

Derivation:

bilge (take in water at the bilge)

• BILGE (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause to leak

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

the collision bilged the vessel

Hypernyms (to "bilge" is one way to...):

damage (inflict damage upon)

Cause:

bilge; take in water (take in water at the bilge)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Take in water at the bilge

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

bilge; take in water

Context example:

the tanker bilged

Hypernyms (to "bilge" is one way to...):

leak (have an opening that allows light or substances to enter or go out)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

bilge (where the sides of the vessel curve in to form the bottom)

bilge (water accumulated in the bilge of a ship)

 Context examples 

All right then; limpid, salubrious: no gush of bilge water had turned it to fetid puddle.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Well, HE'S dead now, he is—as dead as bilge; and who's to sail this ship, I don't see.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I heard Dick begin to rise, and then someone seemingly stopped him, and the voice of Hands exclaimed, “Oh, stow that! Don't you get sucking of that bilge, John. Let's have a go of the rum.”

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)