Davy Jones's locker

English

Alternative forms

• Davy Jones' locker, Davy Jones locker, Davey Jones's locker, Davey Jones' locker, Davey Jones locker, Davie Jones's locker, Davie Jones' locker, Davie Jones locker, Davy's locker, Davey's locker, Davie'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's Locker on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Davy Jones's locker, Davey Jones' locker, Davy Jones' locker at Google Ngram Viewer
• Eric Partridge (1984) Paul Beale, editor, A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English […] , 8th edition, New York: Macmillan