Definition

Noun: A very large and heavily armored warship, historically equipped with the largest caliber guns, designed to engage other major warships in direct naval combat and project power. It represents a class of capital ship that was dominant in naval warfare during the late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries.

Usage

The term "battleship" specifically refers to the type of warship. It is used as a countable noun. * The museum displays a model of a famous battleship from World War II. * The fleet's main strength was its two powerful battleships. * Modern navies have largely replaced battleships with aircraft carriers.

Advanced Usage

• "Dreadnought": A term for a specific type of battleship introduced in the early 20th century that revolutionized naval design, making all previous battleships obsolete. It is often used synonymously with "battleship" from that era.
  • The launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 started a new naval arms race.
• "To mothball a battleship": To deactivate and preserve a battleship (or any ship) with the possibility of returning it to service later.
  • After the war, several battleships were mothballed in reserve fleets.

Variants and Related Words

• Battlewagon (n, informal): A slang or informal term for a battleship.
• Battleship Grey (n): A shade of grey, typically a bluish or greenish grey, commonly used for naval warship paint.
• Capital ship (n): A general term for the most important and largest warships in a fleet, a category that historically included battleships and now primarily includes aircraft carriers.

Synonyms

• Warship: A general term for any armed ship used in war.
• Man-of-war (archaic): An old term for an armed naval ship.
• Ship of the line (historical): The direct sailing-era predecessor to the battleship, designed to fight in the line of battle.

Related Phrases

• Battleship row: A term famously associated with the line of U.S. battleships moored at Pearl Harbor during the 1941 attack.
  • The Japanese aircraft targeted Battleship Row.
• Pocket battleship (historical): A German term () for a class of heavily armed cruisers in the 1930s that were smaller but more powerful than typical cruisers, designed within treaty limitations.

Related Idioms

• "Like a battleship": Used informally to describe something or someone that is very large, heavy, solid, or difficult to move or change.
  • He turned the car around like a battleship, needing three points to complete the maneuver.
  • The old bureaucracy moved like a battleship, slow and unyielding.

Noun

1. large and heavily armoured warship