man of war

/ˈmæn əv ˈwɔr/
noun
  1. A large, heavily armed warship used from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
    • Pirates often tried to avoid a fully armed man-of-war.
    • The British man-of-war sailed into battle with cannons blazing.
    • The museum has a model of a 17th-century man-of-war on display.
  2. Short for Portuguese man-of-war, a marine animal that looks like a jellyfish and has a painful sting.
    • Lifeguards closed the beach after several man-of-war washed ashore.
    • The blue bubble of a man-of-war is easy to spot in the water.
    • A man-of-war's tentacles can sting even when the animal is dead.
Synonyms
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