navy
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈneɪvi/
rhymes: -eɪvi
Forms: form: more navy
form: most navy
Etymology: From Middle English nave, navye, from Anglo-Norman, Old French navie, from Latin nāvigia < nāvigium, from Latin nāvigō, nāvis (“boat”), from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂us. Compare Ancient Greek ναῦς (naûs, “ship”), Persian ناو (nâv, “boat, warship”), Sanskrit नाव (nāva, “ship”), Old English nōwend (“mariner, sailor”).
Displaced native Old English sċiphere (literally “ship army”).
Senses: examples: text: The cover is as navy as a bruise.
ref: 2006, Samantha Hunt, The Seas: A Novel, page 57:
text: The morning shadow on his chin was almost as navy as his heavy-lidded eyes, his cheekbones exquisitely sculptured in his haughty face.
ref: 2006, Carol Marinelli, Taken for His Pleasure, page 26:
glosses: Having the dark blue colour of navy blue.
examples: text: […] there are chess ships and checker ships and those where acey-deucey is almost the only game, the sailors' own improved version of backgammon. Fliers from the seacoast of Iowa, anxious to be as navy as the rest, are usually the first to pick it up.
ref: 1943, Fletcher Pratt, The Navy has wings, page 167:
text: Lieutenant Lindquist is navy through and through. I know she doesn't want to get out. Now, I know there's no way you can assign her to a navy ship, but there has to be something the navy can give her to keep her in space.
ref: 1993, Robert A. Frezza, McLendon's Syndrome, page 299:
text: It was not what you would picture as a typical meeting with a naval officer. In fact, it was about as navy as an Abbott and Costello movie.
ref: 1994, Harry Carey, Company of heroes: my life as an actor in the John Ford stock company, page 76:
text: He was navy through and through; no-nonsense, humorless, and all spit and polish—every hair in its place, every thought gleaned from the manual compiled by brilliant sea dogs of long ago.
ref: 2003, Jedwin Smith, Fatal treasure: greed and death, emeralds and gold, page 88:
text: Goodwin was navy through and through.
ref: 2003, Edwin Palmer Hoyt, Thomas H Moorer, The Men of the Gambier Bay: The Amazing True Story, page 21:
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: Belonging to the navy; typical of the navy.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from the noun or adjective navy
word: bare navy
sense: Terms derived from the noun or adjective navy
word: blue-water navy
sense: Terms derived from the noun or adjective navy
word: brown-water navy
sense: Terms derived from the noun or adjective navy
word: Cajun navy
sense: Terms derived from the noun or adjective navy
word: green-water navy
sense: Terms derived from the noun or adjective navy
word: merchant navy
sense: Terms derived from the noun or adjective navy
word: naval
sense: Terms derived from the noun or adjective navy
word: naval dockyard
sense: Terms derived from the noun or adjective navy
word: navy bean
sense: Terms derived from the noun or adjective navy
word: Navy Cross
sense: Terms derived from the noun or adjective navy
word: navy cut
sense: Terms derived from the noun or adjective navy
word: navy list
sense: Terms derived from the noun or adjective navy
word: navy shower
sense: Terms derived from the noun or adjective navy
word: navy yard
sense: Terms derived from the noun or adjective navy
word: Royal Navy
Related terms: sense: Terms etymologically related to the noun or adjective navy
word: naval
sense: Terms etymologically related to the noun or adjective navy
word: nave
sense: Terms etymologically related to the noun or adjective navy
word: navicular
sense: Terms etymologically related to the noun or adjective navy
word: nef
sense: Terms etymologically related to the noun or adjective navy
word: nonnaval
word: Annapolis
word: bluejacket
word: captain
word: chief petty officer
word: commodore
word: ensign
word: erk
word: Fleet Air Arm
word: gob
word: gunroom
word: marine
word: Seabee
word: silent service