marines

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of marine.

   The marines secured the perimeter before the convoy arrived.

   Several marines were decorated for their actions during the rescue.

   Note

   Two quite different groups share this plural. Most often marines are soldiers trained to serve on or from ships, but they can also be paintings of the sea, so a gallery can hang marines as easily as a convoy can carry them. With a capital, the Marines names the force itself, which the name of the corps covers.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   Alternative form of marine corps.

   She served twenty years in the Marines before retiring.

   After college he enlisted in the Marines and shipped out within months.

   Note

   Here the plural stops counting soldiers and becomes the name of the organization they belong to. It is written with a capital, the Marines, and is never counted: you serve in the Marines or enlist in the Marines. As a name it can stand for the United States Marine Corps, one of the major divisions of the US military.

3. 3
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of marine.

   Note

   The verb behind this form belongs to shipyards, not kitchens. To marine something is to adapt it for use at sea, to equip a boat with the crew an ocean voyage needs, or to flood it temporarily with seawater. It is easily mistaken for marinate, the word for soaking food in brine or sauce: a cook marinates fish, while a boatyard marines an engine.

   The yard marines every engine it installs against salt and spray.

   The owner marines the yacht with a full crew before each crossing.

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