shipshape (adj.)

Middle English ship, "seagoing vessel," especially a large one, from Old English scip "ship, boat, vessel of considerable size adapted to navigation," from Proto-Germanic *skipa- (source also of Old Norse, Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Gothic skip, Danish skib, Swedish skepp, Middle Dutch scip, Dutch schip, Old High German skif, German Schiff). Watkins calls this a "Germanic noun of obscure origin." OED says "the ultimate etymology is uncertain." Traditionally since Pokorny it is derived from PIE root *skei- "to cut, split," perhaps on the notion of a tree cut out or hollowed out, but the semantic connection is unclear. Boutkan gives it "No certain IE etymology."

Now a vessel of considerable size; the Old English word was used for small craft as well, and definitions changed over time; in 19c., a ship was distinguished from a boat in having a bowsprit and three masts, each with a lower, top, and topgallant mast.

French esquif, Italian schifo are Germanic loan-words. By 1590s as the name of a southern constellation (Argo Navis). When personified, ships usually were feminine at least from late 14c., but in 17c.-18c. masculine pronouns became more common, perhaps by influence of the use of man in names such as man-of-war, Dutchman, merchantman. In such combinations, man in the sense of "a ship" is attested from late 15c.

Phrase ships that pass in the night is from Longfellow's poem "Elizabeth" in "Tales of a Wayside Inn" (1863). Expression when (one's) ship comes in "when one's affairs become prosperous" is attested by 1851. The figurative use of nautical tight ship (the notion may be one in which ropes, etc., are tightly stowed) is attested by 1965; compare shipshape.

The model ship inside a bottle with a neck much narrower than the ship is attested by 1920. Ship of fools is in the title of the 1509 translation of Brant's Narrenschiff (1494).

Middle English shape, from Old English sceap, gesceap "external form; a created being, creature; creation; condition; sex, gender; genitalia," from root of shape (v.)).

The meaning "contours of the body, physique and stature" is attested from late 14c. The meaning "condition, state" is recorded by 1865, American English. In Middle and Early Modern English, the word in plural also had a sense of "a woman's private parts."

The meaning "definite, regular, or proper form" is from 1630s; hence out of shape "not in proper shape" (1690s). Shapesmith "one who undertakes to improve the form of the body" (i.e. a corset-maker) was used in 1715. Shape-shifter is attested from 1820. To be of all shapes and sizes is by 1777 in a general sense; prominent from 1810 in newspaper advertisements for manufactured items.