bilge

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noun \ ˈbilj \

Definition of bilge

1 :the bulging part of a cask or barrel

2 a :the part of the underwater body of a ship between the flat of the bottom and the vertical topsides

b :the lowest point of a ship's inner hull

3 :stale or worthless remarks or ideas

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Examples of bilge in a Sentence

That magazine prints a lot of bilge about celebrities.
tried to justify his bigoted tirade with a lot of stale and insincere bilge

Recent Examples of bilge from the Web

The Coast Guard said 5,000 gallons of oily water from the engine room bilge and 1,200 gallons of oily mixture from one of the slop tanks was removed from the vessel over the weekend.

— author: suzanna caldwell, Alaska Dispatch News, "Fishing vessel under pollution watch after it lost power near Unalaska," 21 Aug. 2017
So Systrom gathered a team to sort through massive piles of bilge, buffoonery, and low-grade extortion on the platform.

— WIRED, "Instagram’s Kevin Systrom Wants to Clean Up the Internet," 14 Aug. 2017
Waves were breaking over the vessel's bow while the Coast Guard was towing it to the Tillamook Bar, and its bilges became full of water by around 4:50 a.m., according to the agency.

— jim ryan, OregonLive.com, "Coast Guard rescues 2 distressed mariners off Oregon coast," 8 June 2017
A friend of one of my daughters helped move furniture and brought over a bilge pump.

— tim woodward, idahostatesman, "Our disaster-prone columnist lives near the raging Boise River. This might not end well.," 19 May 2017
A cooler, a bilge pump, freezer packs and tubing will keep you and your baby cool.

— rob goodier, Popular Mechanics, "Ingenious Homemade Air Conditioner Ideas," 15 Mar. 2017
If a breach did occur, there are no steel watertight doors that could be sealed, and no way to pump water out because the bilge system is inoperable; any major flooding could cause the ship to sink to the lagoon floor. •

— courtney tompkins, Orange County Register, "After years of neglect, the Queen Mary may be ‘approaching the point of no return’," 14 Mar. 2017
Any major flooding could cause the ship to sink to the lagoon floor because there are no steel, watertight doors that could be sealed, and no way to pump water out because the bilge system is inoperable.

— Orange County Register, "Queen Mary’s SOS demands action to save the attraction," 14 Mar. 2017
One person alone was admitted on deck at a time, after sunset, which occasioned much filth to run into the hold, and mingle with the bilge water …

— benedict cosgrove, Smithsonian, "The Grisly History of Brooklyn’s Revolutionary War Martyrs," 13 Mar. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bilge.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of bilge

probably modification of Middle French boulge, bouge leather bag, curved part — more at budget

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First Known Use: 1513

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bilge Synonyms

bilge

verb

Definition of bilge

bilged; bilging

intransitive verb

:to become damaged in the bilge

First Known Use of bilge

1728

Other Nautical Terms

avast, aweigh, flotsam, jib, keel, lee, port, starboard, stay

BILGE Defined for English Language Learners

bilge

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noun

Definition of bilge for English Language Learners

: the bottom part of the inside of a ship or boat
: foolish or worthless statements or information

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Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for bilge Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about bilge

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bilge

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