ship's husband
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
The agent on land who represents the owners and attends to the repairs, provisioning and other necessaries and expenses of the ship.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “ship's husband” mean?
The agent on land who represents the owners and attends to the repairs, provisioning and other necessaries and expenses of the ship.
Is “ship's husband” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.