sea-biscuit

A sailor eats a sea-biscuit on the deck of a ship.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • Hard dry biscuit: "sea-biscuit" is a type of hard, dry biscuit or bread, traditionally used as a staple food on long sea voyages. It is also known as ship's biscuit or hardtack.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The sailors survived on sea-biscuit and salted meat during the months at sea. (A hard, dry biscuit used as a preserved food on ships.)
  • He broke a piece of sea-biscuit into his soup to soften it. (A type of hardtack eaten by soaking or crumbling.)

Advanced Usage

• "to live on sea-biscuit": to subsist on meager or basic provisions, often implying hardship.
  • During the famine, the villagers had to live on sea-biscuit and water. (They survived on minimal, simple food.)

Variants and Related Words

• Sea-bread (n): another term for sea-biscuit, specifically referring to hardtack used by sailors.

  • The ship's stores included barrels of sea-bread. (Hard dry bread for long voyages.)

• Hardtack (n): a synonym for sea-biscuit, especially in modern usage.

  • Civil War soldiers often ate hardtack as a field ration. (A type of sea-biscuit.)

Synonyms

• Ship's biscuit: a biscuit designed for long-term storage at sea.
• Pilot bread: a modern commercial version of sea-biscuit.

Related Idioms

• Hard as a sea-biscuit: describing something extremely tough or difficult to break.
  • This old cheese is as hard as a sea-biscuit. (Very hard and dry.)

Phrasal Verbs

• Break sea-biscuit: to physically break the hard biscuit into pieces for eating or softening.
  • He had to break sea-biscuit with a hammer before soaking it. (To break the hard biscuit into manageable pieces.)