ship-breaker
(ˈʃɪpbreɪkə(r))
[See breaker1 1.]
A person who buys old vessels to break them up for sale. Also, a firm or company engaged in the business of breaking up old vessels.
| 1819 P.O. Lond. Directory 84 Cristall, Joseph, Sail-maker, Ship breaker, and Dealer in Ship-Stores. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop iv, On Quilp's Wharf, Daniel Quilp was a ship-breaker. 1888 Dict. Nat. Biogr. XIII. 101/2 A ship⁓breaker, having yards at Rotherhithe, Penzance, and Fowey. 1935 Sun (Baltimore) 21 May 12/6 The sale of some of the big outdated ocean liners to shipbreakers (that's the name for companies that take old ships apart with hammers and acetylene torches). |