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Maritime & Shipping vocabulary · Engine Room

Bilge

Meaning in maritime & shipping, with examples

/bɪldʒ/nounCommon term

In maritime & shipping, bilge means: The lowest part inside a ship's hull, where water, oil and other liquids collect. The mixture that collects there is called bilge water.

In Turkish: sintine

How it is used

Engineers pump the bilges, check the bilge alarms and pass bilge water through the oily water separator before it goes overboard. A rising bilge level can be the first sign of a leak.

Example sentences

  1. The bilge alarm in the engine room went off twice during the night.

  2. Bilge water is pumped to the holding tank before treatment.

Common collocations

  • bilge water
  • bilge pump
  • bilge alarm
  • pump the bilges
  • bilge well
  • engine roomThe space low inside a ship that holds the main engine, generators, pumps and other machinery. Engineers and engine ratings work and keep watch there.
  • MARPOLThe International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships: the main IMO treaty that limits pollution from ships by oil, chemicals, sewage, garbage and air emissions.
  • ballastSeawater, or sometimes another heavy material, carried in special tanks to keep a ship stable, upright and at a safe draught when it has little or no cargo.
  • lube oilShort for lubricating oil: oil that reduces friction and wear and cools the moving parts of engines, gearboxes and other machinery.

More terms: Engine Room

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