English

Alternative forms

• Davy Jones' locker
• Davey Jones' locker
• Davy's locker

Proper noun

Davy Jones's locker

1. (nautical, idiomatic) The bottom of the ocean, especially as the grave for sailors. Also a common saying when something goes overboard and is lost.
   • 1774: Nicholas Cresswell, The Journal of Nicholas Cresswell, 1774-7 - "Damn my eyes," says he, "they are gone to Davy Jones's locker."

     NOTE: Partridge erroneously refers to this as from the journal of Richard rather than Nicholas Cresswell.

   • 1781 August, Isaac Kimber, Edward Kimber, “The Summer Theatre”, in The London Magazine, or, Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer, volume 50, page 360:

     ... are discovered singing a melancholy duet, bewailing the loss of an honest tar, whom they suppose (to use the burthen of the song) "is in Davy Jones's locker."

Translations

See also

• Davy Jones' Locker on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Eric Partridge, A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 8th edition, 1984