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Meaning of Mary Celeste in English:

Mary Celeste

Pronunciation /ˌmɛːri sɪˈlɛst/

proper noun

(also Marie Celeste)

  • 1An American cargo ship that was found afloat in the North Atlantic in December 1872 in perfect condition but abandoned. The fate of the crew and the reason for the abandonment of the ship remain a mystery.

    1. 1.1Used in allusion to a place that is inexplicably deserted.
      ‘it was like the Marie Celeste, with only one person and her baby in there’
      • ‘we got there to find a deserted Marie Celeste kind of place’

Origin

The ship was called the Mary Celeste, but the form Marie Celeste was popularized by an account written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1884, and is now commoner in allusive use.