"ships that pass in the night" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "From a poetic metaphor by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
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      "expansion": "ships that pass in the night pl (plural only)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English similes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1922, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 4, in The Girl on the Boat:",
          "text": "[H]e sat down and we got into conversation. There wasn't time to talk much. . . . We got along famously. But—oh, well, it was just another case of ships that pass in the night.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1996 January 7, Isabel Wolff, “Arts & Entertainment: How We Met—Charles Collingwood and Judy Bennett”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 2013-10-19:",
          "text": "We very seldom work together on The Archers, we're rarely in the same episodes, so often we're ships that pass in the night.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, MaryRose Occhino, The Sign of the Dove, →ISBN, page 135:",
          "text": "They may have passed each other in the lobby or on the elevator of the building they worked in, but as far as I know, they never had the opportunity to even say hello. They were like two ships that passed in the night.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 July 15, Kim Bielenberg, \"18 holes with the Holywood hero,\" Independent (Ireland) (retrieved 19 Oct 2013)",
          "text": "At one point, Gerry McIlroy had two jobs, putting in a 100-hour week as a cleaner and barman, while his mother Rosie worked a night shift in a factory. . . . Rosie and Gerry were like ships that passed in the night."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Two or more people who encounter one another in a transitory, incidental manner and whose relationship is without lasting significance; two or more people who almost encounter one another, but do not do so."
      ],
      "id": "en-ships_that_pass_in_the_night-en-noun-QJGvnIa6",
      "links": [
        [
          "encounter",
          "encounter"
        ],
        [
          "transitory",
          "transitory"
        ],
        [
          "incidental",
          "incidental"
        ],
        [
          "significance",
          "significance"
        ],
        [
          "almost",
          "almost"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(simile) Two or more people who encounter one another in a transitory, incidental manner and whose relationship is without lasting significance; two or more people who almost encounter one another, but do not do so."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
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          "_dis": "33 67",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "24 76",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English pluralia tantum",
          "parents": [
            "Pluralia tantum",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
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          "_dis": "44 56",
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          "_dis": "25 75",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1966 February 9, James Reston, “Ships Passing In The Night”, in St. Petersburg Times, retrieved 2013-10-19, page 14A:",
          "text": "[T]he central figures in the action seem vaguely unrelated to one another, like ships passing in the night.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1984, Susan C. Farkas, Changes & Challenges: City Schools in America, →ISBN, page 129:",
          "text": "\"Education and business used to be like two ships that passed in the night,\" said Delaware Gov. Pierre duPont.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998 October 26, Jennifer Dunning, “In Performance: Dance”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-10-19:",
          "text": "In \"Episode\"—the opening dance—choreography, music, performances and underlying apparent themes looked like ships passing in the night. Nothing connected until a solo danced by a prowling, sensual Christopher Bonomo.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, Janet Duitsman Cornelius, Slave Missions and the Black Church in the Antebellum South, →ISBN, page 68:",
          "text": "Ordinarily the missionaries' religion and the slaves' religion were like two ships that pass in the night.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009 February 14, Richard Dawkins, \"The Science Show: Interpreting Darwin's theory\" (transcript of interview), abc.net.au (Australia) (retrieved 19 Oct 2013)",
          "text": "As a connoisseur of enigmatic titles . . . the Gouldian title that gives me most pleasure is a joint paper, \"Clams and brachiopods: Ships that pass in the night,\" in a learned journal."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Things which have no significant connection or commonality."
      ],
      "id": "en-ships_that_pass_in_the_night-en-noun-lff-ZWIA",
      "links": [
        [
          "connection",
          "connection"
        ],
        [
          "commonality",
          "commonality"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension) Things which have no significant connection or commonality."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly",
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ]
    }
  ],
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "51 49",
      "word": "ships in the night"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "51 49",
      "word": "ships passing in the night"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "51 49",
      "word": "ships that passed in the night"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow"
  ],
  "word": "ships that pass in the night"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English pluralia tantum",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From a poetic metaphor by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "p"
      },
      "expansion": "ships that pass in the night pl (plural only)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English similes",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1922, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 4, in The Girl on the Boat:",
          "text": "[H]e sat down and we got into conversation. There wasn't time to talk much. . . . We got along famously. But—oh, well, it was just another case of ships that pass in the night.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1996 January 7, Isabel Wolff, “Arts & Entertainment: How We Met—Charles Collingwood and Judy Bennett”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 2013-10-19:",
          "text": "We very seldom work together on The Archers, we're rarely in the same episodes, so often we're ships that pass in the night.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, MaryRose Occhino, The Sign of the Dove, →ISBN, page 135:",
          "text": "They may have passed each other in the lobby or on the elevator of the building they worked in, but as far as I know, they never had the opportunity to even say hello. They were like two ships that passed in the night.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 July 15, Kim Bielenberg, \"18 holes with the Holywood hero,\" Independent (Ireland) (retrieved 19 Oct 2013)",
          "text": "At one point, Gerry McIlroy had two jobs, putting in a 100-hour week as a cleaner and barman, while his mother Rosie worked a night shift in a factory. . . . Rosie and Gerry were like ships that passed in the night."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Two or more people who encounter one another in a transitory, incidental manner and whose relationship is without lasting significance; two or more people who almost encounter one another, but do not do so."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "encounter",
          "encounter"
        ],
        [
          "transitory",
          "transitory"
        ],
        [
          "incidental",
          "incidental"
        ],
        [
          "significance",
          "significance"
        ],
        [
          "almost",
          "almost"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(simile) Two or more people who encounter one another in a transitory, incidental manner and whose relationship is without lasting significance; two or more people who almost encounter one another, but do not do so."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1966 February 9, James Reston, “Ships Passing In The Night”, in St. Petersburg Times, retrieved 2013-10-19, page 14A:",
          "text": "[T]he central figures in the action seem vaguely unrelated to one another, like ships passing in the night.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1984, Susan C. Farkas, Changes & Challenges: City Schools in America, →ISBN, page 129:",
          "text": "\"Education and business used to be like two ships that passed in the night,\" said Delaware Gov. Pierre duPont.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998 October 26, Jennifer Dunning, “In Performance: Dance”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-10-19:",
          "text": "In \"Episode\"—the opening dance—choreography, music, performances and underlying apparent themes looked like ships passing in the night. Nothing connected until a solo danced by a prowling, sensual Christopher Bonomo.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, Janet Duitsman Cornelius, Slave Missions and the Black Church in the Antebellum South, →ISBN, page 68:",
          "text": "Ordinarily the missionaries' religion and the slaves' religion were like two ships that pass in the night.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009 February 14, Richard Dawkins, \"The Science Show: Interpreting Darwin's theory\" (transcript of interview), abc.net.au (Australia) (retrieved 19 Oct 2013)",
          "text": "As a connoisseur of enigmatic titles . . . the Gouldian title that gives me most pleasure is a joint paper, \"Clams and brachiopods: Ships that pass in the night,\" in a learned journal."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Things which have no significant connection or commonality."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "connection",
          "connection"
        ],
        [
          "commonality",
          "commonality"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension) Things which have no significant connection or commonality."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly",
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ]
    }
  ],
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "ships in the night"
    },
    {
      "word": "ships passing in the night"
    },
    {
      "word": "ships that passed in the night"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow"
  ],
  "word": "ships that pass in the night"
}