dreadnought
noun
Did you know?
Fear nothing - that is essentially what "dread" plus "nought" means. The name might seem a strange one for a garment, but if you consider that dreadnoughts were worn onboard ships, you can appreciate the colorful name perhaps as much as the seafaring men must have appreciated the thick protection dreadnoughts offered from the elements. The clothes and the cloth, first called "fearnought" in the late 18th century, came long before the battleship. Not until 1906 did the British Navy launch HMS Dreadnought, the first battleship to have a main armament consisting entirely of big guns all of the same caliber. All ships of this type were then called "dreadnoughts." That particular type of battleship soon became obsolete, but their legacy lives on in the extended third sense of "dreadnought."
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Examples of dreadnought in a Sentence
David Aldridge, The Athletic, 8 Aug. 2024
Yamaha The guitar rocks a dreadnought shape with a lower cut for higher fret access, and features a Sitka spruce top with mahogany back and sides.
—Paul Ridden, New Atlas, 11 Oct. 2024
Michelle Yeoh to Reprise Role from 'Star Trek: Discovery' in New 'Star Trek' Movie: 'Dream Come True'
On Discovery, Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) cooked up a creative solution for getting rid of the giant Breen dreadnought ship that loomed nearby.
—Jp Mangalindan, Peoplemag, 30 May 2024
So the potential third installment will involve Kora and company tracking her down, while also seeking allies from surrounding planets now that there’s a blueprint for taking down Imperium dreadnoughts.
—Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Apr. 2024
But the Pac-12’s once-mighty dreadnought, horribly captained, the geniuses who denied access to Texas and Oklahoma, went down in its own sea of incompetence and arrogance.
—San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Aug. 2023
Can Doukeris change this dreadnought’s direction?
—Geoff Colvin, Fortune, 6 Dec. 2021
Available in dreadnought and concert styles.
—Lauren Corona, chicagotribune.com, 25 Sep. 2020
What forces have brought this dreadnought to our shores?
—Dan Neil, WSJ, 6 Jan. 2022
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Cite this Entry
“Dreadnought.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dreadnought. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.
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dreadnought
noun
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