shipwrecky

shipwreck +‎ -y

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃɪpɹɛki/

• Audio (AU)

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shipwrecky (comparative more shipwrecky, superlative most shipwrecky)

1. Characteristic of a shipwreck.
   • 1896, Elizabeth Westyn Timlow, Cricket at the Seashore, Estes and Lauriat (1896), Chapter VI:

     "I was only joking. We've escaped from a burning vessel, you know, and every one else is either burned or drowned. We've provisions for a month, if we don't eat too much, and we're in the South Sea Islands. South Sea Islands sound nice and shipwrecky, don't you think so?"

2. (figuratively) Weak, feeble; shaky.
   • 2007, Riaan Manser, Around Africa on My Bicycle, Jonathan Ball Publishers (2007), →ISBN, page 301:

     So there I was, standing by the roadside in pitch darkness with my belongings and shipwrecky knees.

• For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:shipwrecky.