MAN-OF-WAR • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Man-of-war

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/mæn-əv-wɔr/ Listen

noun

Man-of-war n. (pl. men-of-war)

A government vessel employed for the purposes of war, esp. one of large size; a ship of war.

Synonyms: ship of the line.

The Portuguese man-of-war.

Synonyms: , jellyfish.

Man-of-war hawk (Zool.), the frigate bird.

Man-of-war's man, a sailor serving in a ship of war.

Portuguese man-of-war (Zool.), any species of the genus Physalia; it is a hydrozoan having both medusa and polyp stages present in a single colony. It floats on the surface of the sea by a buoyant bladderlike structure, from which dangle multiple long tentacles with stinging cells. Its can cause severe rashes when it comes in contact with humans swimming in the area. See Physalia.

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Etymology of 'Man-of-war'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Man-of-war" Quotes from Famous Books

... in Virginia, the patriots forced the royal governor, Lord Dunmore, to take refuge on board a British man-of-war in Norfolk Harbor. In revenge, the town of Norfolk, the largest and the most important in the Old Dominion, was, on New Year's Day, 1776, shelled and destroyed. This bombardment, and scores of other less wanton acts ...

— Hero Stories from American History - For Elementary Schools • Albert F. Blaisdell

... the Kestrel swept the Channel pretty clear of smugglers and enemies, and continued so to do long after Hilary had joined Captain Charteris's ship, taking with him the principal members of his crew, Billy Waters rapidly becoming gunner of the great man-of-war, and Tom Tully remaining Tom Tully still, able seaman and owner of the biggest pigtail amongst five ...

— In the King's Name - The Cruise of the "Kestrel" • George Manville Fenn

... once fell over board from a man-of-war in the Southern Indian Ocean. In an instant he was attacked by two or three albatrosses, and though the ship's boat was immediately lowered to his assistance, nothing of him could be found but his hat, which was pierced through and through by the strong beak of the albatross, the first blow ...

— Mamma's Stories about Birds • Anonymous (AKA the author of "Chickseed without Chickweed")

... catamaran-type blockship, was built during the War of 1812. Until recently, not enough material has been available to permit a reasonably accurate reconstruction of what is generally acknowledged to be the first steam man-of-war. ...

— Fulton's "Steam Battery": Blockship and Catamaran • Howard I. Chapelle

... gig having been manned, he seated himself in the stern sheets, a large flag trailing in the water behind him. Lauritz Seehus, creeping in behind him, took the yoke lines, so that everything should be done man-of-war fashion. The six men pulled with a long stroke, their oars dipping along the surface of the sea ...

— Skipper Worse • Alexander Lange Kielland

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