# Mary Celeste

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/mary-celeste
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

A ship found empty of all people, in good condition, seemingly abandoned on the high seas; a ghost ship.

## Examples

- The abandoned boat looked just like a Mary Celeste.
- This quiet, empty office feels like a Mary Celeste on Friday afternoons.
- When we found the yacht drifting with dinner still on the table, it felt like a real-life Mary Celeste.
- The investigators were puzzled to find the engine running and the lights on, making the empty freighter a perfect Mary Celeste.
- After the sudden evacuation, the school building sat like a Mary Celeste with open books still lying on every desk.
- The rescue crew boarded the vessel in silence, unnerved by the eerie atmosphere of a modern-day Mary Celeste left to wander the ocean alone.

## Origin

From the name of the American-flagged brigantine discovered drifting and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872. The crew and passengers had vanished without a trace, and the circumstances of their departure have never been satisfactorily explained. The vessel’s name entered the language as a shorthand for any site found abruptly and inexplicably abandoned.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.