shipwreck

• shipwrack

From Middle English schip-wracke, from Old English sċipwræc (“jetsam”), equivalent to ship +‎ wrack. Cognate with Scots schip-wrak (“to shipwreck”, verb), Swedish skeppsvrak (“shipwreck”). Modern form is due to influence from wreck.

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃɪpɹɛk/

shipwreck (countable and uncountable, plural shipwrecks)

1. A ship that has sunk or run aground so that it is no longer seaworthy.
   • 1670, John Dryden and William D'Avenant, The Tempest

     heaven will drive shipwrecks ashore to make us all rich

2. (countable, uncountable) An event where a ship sinks or runs aground.
   • 1688, John Dryden, The Life of St Francis Xavier

     they made the coast of Cochin China, and the tempests, which rose at the same time, threatened them more than once with shipwreck

3. (figurative) destruction; ruin; irretrievable loss
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Timothy 1:19:

     Holding faith and a good conscience, which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck.

   • 1879, John Morley, Burke:

     It was upon an Indian bill that the late ministry had made shipwreck.

• shipbreach

• shipwrecky

shipwreck (third-person singular simple present shipwrecks, present participle shipwrecking, simple past and past participle shipwrecked)

1. To wreck a boat through a collision or mishap.

• castaway