Davy Jones' Locker (Idiom)

DAVY JONES' LOCKER (Idiom)

Davy Jones' Locker is a nickname used by sailors for the bottom of the sea, where shipwrecks and drowned sailors settle. "Being sent to Davy Jones' Locker" is a euphemism for drowning. As for Davy himself, no one quite knows how the name came about. He's first mentioned in a 1726 book by Daniel Defoe (author of Robinson Crusoe). "Davy" may come from "duppy" (or duffy), a West Indian word for a malevolent spirit or ghost; "Jones" may refer to Jonah, who was cast into the sea in the Bible and ended up in the belly of a "great fish." In any case, he's the sailors' devil, and is described by author Tobias Smollett (in 1751) as having eyes like saucers; three rows of teeth; horns and a tail (like any devil); and blue smoke coming from his nostrils. He has more recently been sighted with octopus tentacles for a beard and a crab claw for a hand in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean film series.

---

Navigation:

• View this post on Facebook or Instagram
• Go to the Mini-Lessons Index

(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)