English
navy
Etymology

From Middle English nave, navye, from Anglo-Norman -, Old French navie, from Latin nāvigia < nāvigium, from Latin nāvigō, nāvis ("boat"), from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂us.

Displaced native Old English sċiphere (literally “ship army”).

Pronunciation
  • IPA: /ˈneɪvi/
Noun

navy

  1. (countable) A country's entire maritime military force, including ships and personnel.
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:
      The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.
    People who get seasick easily shouldn't join the navy.
  2. (countable) A governmental department in charge of a country's maritime military force.
  3. (archaic, countable) Any fleet of maritime vessels, and especially the entire fleet of any particular nationality, including vessels that are commercial, military, or both.
    Synonyms: marine#English:_fleet of ships
  4. (countable and uncountable) A dark blue colour, usually called navy blue.
     
Translations Translations Translations Adjective

navy

  1. Having the dark blue colour of navy blue.
  2. (military) Belonging to the navy; typical of the navy.
    • 2003, Edwin Palmer Hoyt, Thomas H Moorer, The Men of the Gambier Bay: The Amazing True Story, page 21:
      Goodwin was navy through and through.
Related terms Translations Translations

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