purser rigged and parish damned

English

Etymology

purser (“ship mate in charge of accounting for passengers aboard”) + rigged (“fixed”) + parish (“meaning church community ashore”) + damned (“forsaken”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Adjective

purser rigged and parish damned

1. (obsolete, nautical, slang) Having joined the United States Navy, either because of destitution or in order to flee problems on land.
   • 1850, Herman Melville, White-Jacket, page 352:

     “Purser rigged and parish damned,” is the sailor saying in the American Navy, when the tyro first mounts the lined frock and blue jacket, aptly manufactured for him in a State Prison ashore.

References

• “purser rigged and parish damned” from the pirate dictionary.