The bottom part of a ship's hull houses the bilge.
A bilge is the rounded, bottom part of a boat's hull. Dirty water -- bilge water -- collects in this recess. Consequently, "bilge" has developed a connotative association with dirtiness. Depending upon the context, therefore, bilge might refer to the physical ship's component, dirty garbage water or the protruding shape of the bilge well on a boat. Additionally, bilge can be used to refer to words or actions that are considered "rubbish" or nonsense.
Bilge as Ship Component
To nonseafarers, the bilge might rightly be referred to as simply the bottom, bottom curve, side or hull of the boat. In some boats, the bilge denotes a space between the bottom interior of the boat and the exterior hull of the bottom exterior of the boat. In this case, a bilge might also be rightly referred to as a drainage well or subhold in the interior of the boat.
Bilge as Garbage
As a ship's bilge where fetid water tends to collect, to refer to something as bilgeish, bilgelike or bilgey is to point out its garbagelike qualities. In circumstances such as this, words such as grime, slop, waste, filth, trash or sewage apply with equal accuracy, emphasizing bilge's meaning of rubbish, garbage or filth.
Bilge as Nonsense
Operating in much the same denotative manner as referring to words or actions as "trashy" or "garbage," referring to words or actions as "bilge" or "bilgey" indicates their utter lack of merit or believability. Words such as balderdash, malarkey, hooey or baloney suggest similar meanings, emphasizing the fact that a synonym of bilge is "nonsense."
Bilge as Protrusion
Likely stemming from the fact that a ship's bilge is a protruding component of the exterior of the ship's bottom, bilge has also come to suggest an outward projection, much as with the similar-sounding word "bulge." Terms such as balloon, bloat, protrude or swell suggest this definition of bilge and act as appropriate synonyms.
Tags: bilge might, words actions, bottom part, fact that, interior boat, nonsense Bilge, referring words
