navy

Etymology

From Middle English nave, navye, from Anglo-Norman, Old French navie, from Latin nāvigia < nāvigium, from Latin nāvigō, nāvis (“boat”), from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂us. Compare Ancient Greek ναῦς (naûs, “ship”), Persian ناو (nâv, “boat, warship”), Sanskrit नाव (nāva, “ship”), Old English nōwend (“mariner, sailor”). Displaced native Old English sċiphere (literally “ship army”).

noun

1. (countable) A country's entire sea force, including ships and personnel.
   People who get seasick easily shouldn't join the navy.
2. (countable) A governmental department in charge of a country's sea force.
3. (color, countable and uncountable) A dark blue colour, usually called navy blue.
   navy:

adj

1. (color) Having the dark blue colour of navy blue.
   The cover is as navy as a bruise. 2006, Samantha Hunt, The Seas: A Novel, page 57
   The morning shadow on his chin was almost as navy as his heavy-lidded eyes, his cheekbones exquisitely sculptured in his haughty face. 2006, Carol Marinelli, Taken for His Pleasure, page 26
2. (military) Belonging to the navy; typical of the navy.
   […] there are chess ships and checker ships and those where acey-deucey is almost the only game, the sailors' own improved version of backgammon. Fliers from the seacoast of Iowa, anxious to be as navy as the rest, are usually the first to pick it up. 1943, Fletcher Pratt, The Navy has wings, page 167
   Lieutenant Lindquist is navy through and through. I know she doesn't want to get out. Now, I know there's no way you can assign her to a navy ship, but there has to be something the navy can give her to keep her in space. 1993, Robert A. Frezza, McLendon's Syndrome, page 299
   It was not what you would picture as a typical meeting with a naval officer. In fact, it was about as navy as an Abbott and Costello movie. 1994, Harry Carey, Company of heroes: my life as an actor in the John Ford stock company, page 76
   He was navy through and through; no-nonsense, humorless, and all spit and polish—every hair in its place, every thought gleaned from the manual compiled by brilliant sea dogs of long ago. 2003, Jedwin Smith, Fatal treasure: greed and death, emeralds and gold, page 88
   Goodwin was navy through and through. 2003, Edwin Palmer Hoyt, Thomas H Moorer, The Men of the Gambier Bay: The Amazing True Story, page 21