Shipshape (and Bristol fashion)

Arranged neatly and compactly, as things on board ship should be. Shipshape was more likely to be shipshapen in the late 16th/early 17th century, but the final ‘n’ was soon dropped thereafter. Obviously, the term was originally applied to ships but by the mid-17th century, virtually anything that was in good order was deemed shipshape. The words ‘and Bristol fashion’ were only added later in the late 18th/early 19th century when Bristol was at its height as one of Britain’s leading ports and shipbuilding centres. Anything that was done in Bristol fashion was generally acknowledged as first class.