shipbreach

English

Alternative forms

• ship-breach

Etymology

From Middle English schipbreche, schipbrüche, from Old English scipbryċe, scipbroc, scipġebroc (“shipwreck; that which washes ashore from shipwreck, wreckage”, literally “ship-breaking”), equivalent to ship +‎ breach. Cognate with Scots schipbrek (“shipwreck”), Dutch schipbreuk (“shipwreck”), German Schiffbruch (“shipwreck”).

Noun

shipbreach (uncountable)

1. Shipwreck.
   • 1966, Bartholomaeus (Anglicus), Robert Steele, Medieval Lore:

     Also in shipbreach men flee to a board, and are oft saved in peril.

   • 1999, Robert M. Torrance, Robert M. Torrance:

     [...] and the third with an harp, and they please so shipmen, with likeness of song, that they draw them to peril and to shipbreach [shipwreck], but the sooth [truth] is, that they were strong [w]hores, that drew men that passed by them to poverty and to mischief.