Bows Under

English expression meaning to have more work that you can possibly deal with. It originated with the Royal Navy and referred to those times when a ship was caught in a severe storm or hurricane. This would require the crew member to work continuously, often for extended periods with little rest, to ensure the safety of the ship. During this time the ship would have green seas coming over the bows so that it appeared as if the bows were under water. When telling of the experience once they were back on shore, the sailors would refer to the ship as being 'bows under' and gradually the expression became associated with the excessive workload incurred at the time as well, so that having an excessive workload requiring continuous application to clear became known as being 'bows under'.

The expression came to be used within the Royal Dockyards to denote times when excessive workloads were experienced. One notable occasion being 1982 when, in response to the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands, the Royal Dockyards fitted out ships taken up from trade for Naval service in less than six weeks, Commercial shipbuilders said that this would take more than six months for each vessel, but by carrying out the work in less than a quarter of the time quoted by commercial shipbuilders the Royal Dockyards were 'bows under'.

"This is the first weekend off I've had in six weeks! We've been bows under!"

by AKACroatalin March 18, 2015

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Underwater ‘Parasite’ Cocaine Smuggling

Underwater ‘Parasite’ Cocaine Smuggling — A tactic where gangs use scuba divers to attach cocaine stashes to the hulls of unsuspecting ships.

I make my living as a scuba diver; but, I ain’t no Jacques Cousteau — I’m into Underwater ‘Parasite’ Cocaine Smuggling . It’s dangerous but quite lucrative!!!!!!!

by Mind Hunter the Profiler July 28, 2023

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The Crab Under the Bridge

Verb: The act of performing a spit roast while a male takes the crab position beneath the female, with head placed between the penetrating male's legs while receiving a tit wank from the females low hanging breasts. This person may or may not lick the balls of the penetrating man.

Guy 1: "Yo CB3 was the Crab Under the Bridge and started tounging my balls."
Guy 2: "I'll have to try that sometime with Loz and Haz."

by Zeek-McBreadsticks November 7, 2014

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a poor waif in his underwear

A pro-Russian journalist or Russian/Kremlin official who attempts to pass off fake quotes as real things said by government or military officials in Western countries but are clearly fake due to translated Russian phrases, strange wording, words being used in strange or unnatural ways, etc.

The phrase comes from an article written by Seymour Kersh, a pro-Russian journalist. In the article, he claimed an anonymous American official called President Zelenskyy of Ukraine 'a poor waif in his underwear'. However, the term 'waif' is extremely uncommon in American English, and the whole phrase was a Russian meme until the publishing of the article.

Seymour Hersh was a poor waif in his underwear when quoting his source, a supposed 'anonymous US official', who used the Russian idiom 'a poor waif in his underwear', which until then was not used in English.

Pro-Kremlin social media users were floundering like poor waifs in their underwear to dismiss the initial use of 'a poor waif in his underwear' as a mere translation issue without explaining why there would be a translation issue between a US journalist and a US official.

by True Squatch July 28, 2023

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