Last updated: August 13, 2019

Becalmed

A sailing ship is becalmed when in the absence of wind, it sits motionless on the surface of the sea.

First found: 1550, to becalm, to deprive a ship of wind.

“As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean” C.S. Forester (1899-1966)

Featured image: from Horatio Hornblower, The Frogs and the Lobsters (1999)