[General] give somebody (something) a wide berth

[vil]

Dear teachers,

Would you help to me to interpret in plain English the meaning of the expression in bold in the following sentence?

“Them” said the captain, “is the terms I offer. If they’re hard upon you, brother, as may hap they are, give them a wide berth, sheer off, and part company cheerily.

[FONT=&quot]give somebody (something) a wide berth = keep away from someone[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
Thanks for your efforts.

Regards,

V

 

[corum]

Definition of shun verb from Cambridge Dictionary Online: Free English Dictionary and Thesaurus

In your sentence, the idiom in bold does not mean 'shun'. It means, as you rightly think,
'keep away from someone'.

 

[BobK]

Note that the speaker is a captain, and the sense of 'berth' used here is naval.

b

 

[vil]

Hi BobK,

Thank you for your reminder but for all that the proper interpretation of the phrase in question is " to keep clear of someone; avoid somebody" or "keep away from someone"

Regards,

V.

 

[BobK]

Hi BobK,

Thank you for your reminder but for all that the proper interpretation of the phrase in question is " to keep clear of someone; avoid somebody" or "keep away from someone"

Regards,

V.

:up: My point was that many (arguably all, but let's not go there;-)) words start life as metaphors. And as the people using them want to communicate, words based on specialist meanings tend to be used by specialists in one field or another. A 21st speaker from any walk of life can give someone 'a wide berth', but I would be prepared to bet - if it were possible to prove such a thing - that the first user was someone who had contact with ships and/or the sea.

b