Meaning
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
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- Bristol fashion and shipshape
- Ship-shape and Bristol fashion
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.