battleship

Etymology

battle + ship; shortened from line-of-battle ship, attested 1794.

noun

  1. (military, nautical) A large capital warship displacing thousands to tens of thousands of tons, heavily armoured and armed with large-caliber guns; now obsolescent and replaced by smaller vessels with guided missiles.
  2. (military, nautical, archaic) A ship of the line.
  3. A non-functional rocket stage, used for configuration and integration tests.
  4. A guessing game played on grid paper; see Battleship (game).

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