lightshipn.
/ˈlʌɪtʃɪp/, U.S. /ˈlaɪtˌʃɪp/ A vessel bearing a light; esp. a vessel bearing a warning light or lights, usually moored in a fixed position to indicate a hazardous point at sea and to aid navigation.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessels with other specific uses > [noun] > lightship
lightship?1692
light vessel1788
floating light1793
light boat1796
float-light1819
pumpkin seed1884
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > buoys, marks, or lighthouses > [noun] > object on land or sea as guide > light beacon or lighthouse > lightship
lightship?1692
light vessel1788
?1692 Generall Sailing-orders §iii The Capt: with the Lightship shall saile with the slowest sailing Ships.
1753 Public Advertiser 20 Nov. It [sc. a bank] reaches so far to the Northward, that when you have the Light-Ship at the End of the Piles W.N.W. from you, then you will have but two Fathoms and a half at low Water Spring-tides.
1837 H. Martineau Society in Amer. II. 11 The office of the light-ship is to tow vessels in the dark through the strait.
1870 Daily News 2 Sept. 3 The visitors to Ramsgate..have had an opportunity afforded them of seeing the far-famed Goodwin lightship at close quarters.
1946 Life 3 June 99 (caption) The Nantucket Lightship rides anchor in 30 fathoms near dreaded quicksand shallows.
2005 Geographical Sept. 18/1 Details of the lighthouses and lightships located along the Channel.
Compounds
C1. General use as a modifier, as in lightship lamp, lightship service, etc.
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1842 Rep. Select Comm. Post Office Communication with Ireland 196 in Parl. Papers (H.C. 373) IX. 343 Having to wander about Liverpool bay at half speed, to catch the direction of the light ship signals.
1914 Sat. Evening Post 10 Jan. 1/2 In every possible stress of storm..lightship lamps must be staunch and true.
2012 Santa Fe New Mexican 4 July c4/3 There are some who told him jail time would be better than lightship service.
C2. As a modifier, designating a person who tends to a lightship, as in lightship keeper, lightship man, etc.
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1862 Liverpool Mercury 2 May 3/2 The marine committee recommended the board..to appoint Joseph Roach, lightship-man, to be first mate of the George's Landing stage.
1958 W. Armstrong True Bk. Lighthouses & Lightships xiii. 131 ‘Better be safe than sorry’ was always the unspoken motto of lighthouse and lightship men.
2000 Atlanta (Georgia) Jrnl.-Constit. 9 Nov. 27 hg Nantucket lightship keepers and coopers constructed baskets to suit their gathering and storage needs.
C3.
lightship basket n. U.S. (in full Nantucket lightship basket) a type of handwoven basket originally made by the crews of lightships (see quot. 1891).Lightship baskets are made from canes woven over a mould, and have a solid wooden base. They are associated especially with the lightships of Nantucket Island, and are now made as decorative items and fashion accessories.
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1891 Cent. Mag. Aug. 544/2 A number of stores in Nantucket sell what are known as lightship baskets. They come in ‘nests’, a nest consisting of five or eight baskets... [The crew] make them chiefly for the purpose of whiling away the weary winter hours.
1995 House Beautiful Nov. 24/1 [They] were newlyweds on a Nantucket holiday when they fell in love with four lightship baskets—each signed on the handle by the lighthouse keeper who had woven them from oak splints during his solitary vigil.
2020 N. Y. Times (Nexis) 19 Jan. a24 She loved art and design... She was..a prolific weaver of Nantucket lightship baskets.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2021).
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n.?1692