泥どろ舟ぶね

noun

mud boat; boat for transporting mud

Literal meaning: a boat used to carry mud, often in construction or dredging contexts.

• 工こう事じ現げん場ばで泥どろ舟ぶねが使つかわれている。

  A mud boat is being used at the construction site.

noun

mud boat (folktale); sinking ship (figurative)

In folktales, a boat made of mud that inevitably sinks; figuratively, a hopeless situation or a doomed enterprise.

• 昔むかし話ばなしに出でてくる泥どろ舟ぶねは、すぐに沈しずんでしまう。

  The mud boat that appears in old tales sinks right away.

• あの計けい画かくはもう泥どろ舟ぶねだ。

  That plan is already a sinking ship.