Along the length of a ship's side; nautical term describing movement or position parallel to the ship's length.
From 'along' (from Old English 'andlang,' meaning 'stretching along') combined with 'ships' (plural of ship or the ship's genitive). This is a specialized nautical vocabulary term from maritime English.
Sailors have these incredibly specific directional terms because when you're on a ship, knowing exactly which way to move is a matter of safety—'alongships' is one of dozens of directional words that maritime communities developed!
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