adj. (colloquial).—Spick and span; smart above and below: originally SHIP-SHAPE AND BRISTOL FASHION. [Bristol’s fame as a port in early days was far higher than now] (GROSE).
1835. R. H. DANA, Jr., Two Years Before the Mast, 25 Aug. Everything was ‘SHIP-SHAPE AND BRISTOL FASHION.’ There was no rust, no dirt, no rigging hanging slack, no fag ends of ropes and ‘Irish pendants’ aloft, and the yards were squared ‘to a t’ by lifts and braces.
1848. DICKENS, Dombey and Son, xxiii. Wal’r will have wrote home … and made all taut and SHIP-SHAPE.
1874. E. L. LINTON, Patricia Kemball, ii. Though we can go on very well as we are, she must have everything SHIP-SHAPE and nice when she comes.
1891. Licensed Victuallers’ Mirror, 3 Jan., 7, 2. No time was lost in putting the ring SHIP-SHAPE.
