bilge water


noun
  1. Nautical. bilge (def. 1d).

  2. Also called bilge. Slang. foolish, worthless, or offensive talk or ideas; nonsense; rubbish.

Origin of bilge water

1
First recorded in 1700–10

Words Nearby bilge water

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use bilge water in a sentence

  • This resembled the old bilge-water of a ship for foulness, but both men and oxen drank of it with avidity.

    Robert Moffat | David J. Deane
  • Last night was very cold, and this morning there was ice on the lake, and the bilge-water in the boat was frozen solid.

    Three in Norway | James Arthur Lees
  • With the rocking of the boat, the foul bilge-water washed around the child's limbs and back.

    The Pillar of Light | Louis Tracy
  • And they say the 'tween-deck and forecastle smells o' bedbugs and bilge-water, and they want their grog.

  • Nautica found him, inverted and full of emotion, fishing about in the bilge-water for the lost piece.

    Virginia: The Old Dominion | Frank W. Hutchins and Cortelle Hutchins