Shipshape and Bristol fashion
Suggest a CorrectionMeaning
Neat, orderly and efficiently arranged; in excellent working condition. Approving and mildly old-fashioned. Hyphenation varies; the modern closed form 'shipshape' is common. Regional use: British English, especially nautical and south-western associations.
Origin
Seventeenth-century 'ship-shapen' described something arranged as it should be aboard ship. The expanded Bristol form is recorded in 1803, when Bristol was a major west-coast port with a reputation for well-kept shipping. Claims that the phrase specifically arose because vessels grounded at every low tide are plausible local explanation, not proved coinage history.
Research Sources
Variants
- Ship-shape and Bristol fashion
- Bristol fashion and shipshape
Usage Examples
- By inspection time the engine room was shipshape and Bristol fashion.
- She left the archive ship-shape and Bristol fashion, with every bundle numbered.
- A morning's work put the cottage back in Bristol fashion and shipshape.