ship v.1
1. (US) to dispose of, i.e. a lover.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 22 Nov. n.p.: When is deafy Wheeler [...] going to ship old Burns, and live with that curly-headed youth. |
2. (US Und.) to send to prison or to be moved from one prison to another.
| Georgie May 223: That calaboose down in Louisville was a heavun ’long-side uh this [...] Ah’ll slit mah throat if they evah try to ship me back heah. | |
 | Cane Juice 123: ‘For God’s sake, Couvy! They’ll ship me if you don’t,’ Bull pleaded. | |
| Really the Blues 40: They were figuring on shipping me back to the regular prison. | |
| (con. 1938) Cell 2455 117: When he failed to improve they shipped him to the ‘bug house’. | |
| (con. 1940s) Reprieve 185: He is shipped back to State prison. | |
| False Starts 361: I was shipped off to one of the new conservation centers. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | ‘The Dessert Song’ Minder [TV script] 34: Ship him back to his goats or whatever he’s got. We’ll go and get him a ticket right now. | |
| Prison Sl. 9: Waiting to Catch the Chain Inmates waiting to be transferred from jail to a prison. (Archaic: ship, ride). | |
| Guardian G2 4 Mar. 18: Sid had been shipped out of a high-security jail [...] straight into the hospital wing of another. |
SE in slang uses
In phrases
(US) to die.
| Jasper Weekly Courier (IN) 1 Oct. 6/3: Afore I ships my wind I’d like for to tell you somethin’ that’ll make you and Jack Wilson rich. |
1. (also ship oneself out) to leave, to depart; to release from prison.
| Georgie May 17: Ah’ll be a bum through and through [...] if ah don’ ship mahself out and get free of it. | |
| Und. Speaks n.p.: Shipped out, released from prison. | |
| (con. 1944) Gallery (1948) 34: I’ll have orders cut shipping you out of this theater. | |
| letter 3 Oct. in Joint (1972) 68: He read your last letter, the day before he was shipped out. | |
| On The Road (1972) 69: What are we going to do about shipping out? | |
| I Love You Honey, But the Season’s Over 52: They’re going to ship out any day now and so are we. | |
| Down These Mean Streets (1970) 167: We’d like to ship out. | |
| Bad (1995) 162: When you get tired of me you’re gonna hafta ship me out. | |
| (con. 1969–70) F.N.G. (1988) 14: If there’s any room on a plane youse grunts’ll ship out today. | |
| Homeboy 168: You’ll ship out to another open in a couple weeks. | |
![[Can]](/static/img/flags/can.png "Canada") | (con. 1920s) Legs 85: They only used them when they wanted to ship out to distant jobs. | |
| Indep. on Sun. Culture 12 Dec. 4: Just pack up, ship out, find a place of your own. | |
| Observer Rev. 5 Mar. 3: Since his parents retired (‘shipped out’, he calls it) to Devon, he has no connection to the place where he grew up. |
2. in fig. use, to die.
| Sat. Eve. Post 10 July 88/2: Cashing in or shipping out, it made no difference as long as you didn’t watch them die [DA]. | |
| And When She Was Bad 70: ‘Tell ’em I’ve shipped out,’ I said. Tell ’em the angels have come down and taken me away’. |
(US milit.) to re-enlist.
| letter 18 Mar. in Tomlinson Rocky Mountain Sailor (1998) 81: This Navy life is a lazy life and has a tendency to unfit a man for anything else. That is one reason why many men ‘ship over’ . |