Davy Jones's locker

Davy Jones's locker

English

Alternative forms

• Davy Jones' locker
• Davey Jones' locker
• Davy's locker

Etymology

There has been much speculation about the origin of this term, but none has been substantiated. See more at Davy Jones' Locker on Wikipedia.

Pronunciation

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Proper noun

Davy Jones's locker

1. (nautical, idiomatic) The bottom of the ocean, seen as a grave for sailors and the resting-place of anything that goes overboard and is lost.
   • 1774, Nicholas Cresswell, The Journal of Nicholas Cresswell, 1774-7:

     "Damn my eyes," says he, "they are gone to Davy Jones's locker."

     NOTE: Partridge erroneously refers to this as from the journal of Richard rather than Nicholas Cresswell.

   • 1781 August, Isaac Kimber, Edward Kimber, “The Summer Theatre”, in The London Magazine, or, Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer, volume 50, page 360:

     ... are discovered singing a melancholy duet, bewailing the loss of an honest tar, whom they suppose (to use the burthen of the song) "is in Davy Jones's locker."

Translations

the ocean as a grave for sailors

Finnish: Ahdin valtakunta French: le grand bouillon m German: Grab in Meerestiefe n Italian: Lo scrigno di Davy Jones Russian: могила моряков (mogíla morjakóv) f Spanish: el fondo del mar m Welsh: (please verify) cwpwrdd Dafydd Jôs m

See also

• Davy Jones' Locker on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Eric Partridge, A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 8th edition, 1984