grapnel

From Middle English grapnel, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French grapil, grapin. Compare modern French grappin.

[…] we espied towards the North end of the Iland ye light of a great fire thorow the woods, to the which we presently rowed: when wee came right ouer against it, we let fall our Grapnel neere the shore, & sounded with a trumpet a Call […]

1589, Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], →OCLC, page 292:

1790, William Bligh, A Narrative of the Mutiny on Board his Majesty’s Ship Bounty, London: George Nicol, Entry for 1 June, 1789,
At dawn of day we got on shore, and tracked the boat into shelter; for the wind blowing fresh without, and the ground being rocky, I was afraid to trust her at a grapnel, lest she might be blown to sea: I was, therefore, obliged to let her ground in the course of the ebb.

(nautical) A small anchor, having more than two flukes, used for anchoring a small vessel.

[…] the wind dying away, the signal was made for casting anchor, when both ships came to in 26 fathom water; but the Resolution expecting to come to with her small stream anchor, let the whole run out, and lost both anchor and hauser, besides the ship’s grapnel in looking for it.

1785, John Rickman, Journal of Captain Cook’s Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, London: E. Newbery, Part II, p. 233:

With anxious grapnels I had sounded my pocket, and only brought up a few pieces of silver ...

1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 2:

“[…] Why, you’ve flung your grapnel over the doctor, and he’s coming courting forthwith.”

1886 May – 1887 April, Thomas Hardy, “chapter 22”, in The Woodlanders […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

But by the mercy o’ God to heretics, what were left o’ my poor ship got a hold on that guarda-costa’s timbers wi’ her grapnels, what time we climbs aboard her.

1936, Rafael Sabatini, “Sacrilege”, in The Fortunes of Captain Blood:


grapnel

en-verb

grapnel (third-person singular simple present grapnels, present participle grapnelling, simple past and past participle grapnelled)

grapnels (present singular third-person)
grapnelling (participle present)
grapnelled (participle past)
grapnelled (past)

(transitive, nautical) To connect (ships) with a grapnel.


can opener

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-can opener.wav

(military, nautical, slang) A ramming maneuver, that opens up the target ship like a tin can.


eking

From Middle English *eking, *eching, deverbal of eken (“to increase, add”), equivalent to eke + -ing. More at eke.

(nautical, obsolete) A supplementary piece of timber used to lengthen another.


go large

go large (third-person singular simple present goes large, present participle going large, simple past went large, past participle gone large)

goes large (present singular third-person)
going large (participle present)
went large (past)
gone large (participle past)

(nautical) To have the wind at such an angle to the sail that the vessel gains its highest speed.


cowan

en-noun

cowan (plural cowans or (obsolete) cowanis)

cowans (plural)
cowanis (obsolete plural)

(in attributive use) Uninitiated, outside, “profane”.


crosstree

Your most usual point of perch is the head of the t’ gallant-mast, where you stand upon two thin parallel sticks (almost peculiar to whalemen) called the t’ gallant crosstrees.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 35”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

(nautical) A light timber or metal spreader fixed athwartships part way up a mast to spread the shrouds from higher up


crow's nest

From the habit of crows building nests high up in trees.

(nautical) A small open-top shelter, originally a cask, on the top of the foremast, large enough to accommodate a lookout. It was used by whalers to watch for a blow (spout), or in icebound waters to seek a channel.

vraní hnízdo

open-top shelter atop the foremast for a lookout


liveaboard

“We′re going to move aboard, sail around the world and do some writing,” the letter goes. “How are our chances?” It′s a common question from readers who know that my husband and I support our liveaboard life through writing and photography.

1975, From Tiller to Typwriter: The Rudder, volume 91, page 227:

This marina is the closest to the ocean and has a surprisingly liberal liveaboard policy (10 percent of the total population; children, pets, okay).

Pat and Kelly′s was the haven for the liveaboard community and had acquired a legendary reputation for a salty ambiance involving a couple of parrots, a raccoon, dogs and independent liveaboards who had little time for established governments.

2000, David Schaefer, Sailing to Hemingway′s Cuba, page 40:

2008, Zoe Simpson, A Matter of Degree, Fossil-Imprints, UK, page 132,
‘None of the boats around you have liveaboards, do they?’ put in Mum.


umiak

From Inuvialuktun ᐅᒥᐊᖅ (umiaq, “women's boat”).

der

In many regions, people went inland at the end of August (often travelling upriver in large sealskin boats called umiat) to hunt caribou till September or October.

2002, Louis-Jacques Dorais, 'Inuit', Aboriginal Peoples of Canada, ed. Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto, page 135

(nautical) A large, open boat made of skins stretched over a wooden frame that is propelled by paddles; used by the Eskimos for transportation.


hounding

(nautical, dated) The part of a mast below the hounds and above the deck.


hogging

For a cantilevered beam, the steel reinforcement should be placed at the top to carry the hogging moment along the upper face.

(nautical, engineering) Drooping at the ends; arching; in distinction from sagging.


billboard

→ Polish: billboard

أَفِيش

large advertisement along side of highway

(nautical) A piece of thick plank, armed with iron plates, and fixed on the bow or fore-channels of a vessel, for the bill or fluke of the anchor to rest on.


dead in the water

Unaware of her compatriots' fate, Aaron Ward found herself staring down the gun barrels of Kirishima, a fight that did not end well for the destroyer, which was soon dead in the water.

2021 March 10, Drachinifel, 22:59 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 1 (IJN 3(?) : 2 USN), archived from the original on 2022-11-07:

(nautical) Stationary with respect to the current, having no means of propulsion.


jump ship

en-verb

jump ship (third-person singular simple present jumps ship, present participle jumping ship, simple past and past participle jumped ship)

jumps ship (present singular third-person)
jumping ship (participle present)
jumped ship (participle past)
jumped ship (past)

As soon as the battleship docked in Singapore, Roger jumped ship, never to return.

(nautical) To depart from a ship, especially without permission.


necked

(nautical, archaic, of a treenail) Cracked.


forrad

(dialectal, chiefly nautical) Alternative spelling of forrard.


iceboat

An icebreaker; a ship that breaks through ice.


iceboat

iceboat (third-person singular simple present iceboats, present participle iceboating, simple past and past participle iceboated)

iceboats (present singular third-person)
iceboating (participle present)
iceboated (participle past)
iceboated (past)


struse

Borrowed from Russian струг (strug), an old Russian wooden river boat.

A Russian river craft used for transporting freight.


washboard

(nautical) A board fastened along a ship's gunwale to prevent splashing; a splashboard.

zetbord

a board on the gunwale of a boat to stop splashing - a splash board


wiper

(nautical) A junior role in the engine room of a ship, someone who wipes down machinery and generally keeps it clean.


hull splash

hull splash (third-person singular simple present hull splashes, present participle hull splashing, simple past and past participle hull splashed)

hull splashes (present singular third-person)
hull splashing (participle present)
hull splashed (participle past)
hull splashed (past)

Repair parts coverage may block protection sought by boat builders By Jim Flannery Staff Writer Boatbuilders are looking to federal design protection legislation as their best hope for deterring hull splashing, following laut year's Supreme Court ruling against state anti-splash laws.

1991, United States Congress: House Committee on the Judiciary, Industrial design protection: hearings before the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Administration of Justice:

During hearings to ban hull splashing, or the copying of hulls, Representative Howard Coble of North Carolina suggested that all hulls be registered with the Copyright office.

1998 March, Charles Barthold, “The Hull Truth”, in Yachting, volume 183, number 3, page 10:

I wouldn't defend hull splashing, put there are probably hundreds of cases where one boat manufacturer develops a design that is "inspired" by, (rather than physically molded from), a competitor's boat, and moving too agressively^([sic]) into that arena begins to tread in the "pointy on one end, blunt on the other" copyright claims.

2005 December 8, Chuck Gould, “"Hull Splashing" Boat Builders - Beware”, in rec.boats (Usenet):

The legislation would make it harder to hull splash, and it would make it easier for companies to register their designs with the government.

2006 January, “No More Splashing!”, in Tunnel Boat Performance News:

(nautical) To reverse-engineer the hull of a boat by making a cast of it.


pay off

pay off (third-person singular simple present pays off, present participle paying off, simple past and past participle paid off)

pays off (present singular third-person)
paying off (participle present)
paid off (participle past)
paid off (past)

splatit

to pay back (repay, pay off) the entirety of a loan, thereby effecting the release of a lien on

(nautical) To fall to leeward, as the head of a vessel under sail.


glacis

Borrowed from French glacis (“slippery surface”), derived from Old French glacier (“to glide; freeze”), the former from Latin glaciāre (“to freeze”), from glaciēs (“ice”), of uncertain origin.
cognates
* Medieval Latin glatia (“incline in front of a fortification”)

cog

In full glacis plate: the angled armour plate on the front of a tank which protects it from projectiles; also (often nautical), such a plate protecting an opening (for example, on a ship).


battle stations

(nautical) An alert aboard a warship, summoning the crew to man all weapons and all stations.

klart skib

order that prepares a battleship for combat


portage

en-verb

portage (third-person singular simple present portages, present participle portaging or portageing, simple past and past participle portaged)

portages (present singular third-person)
portaging (participle present)
portageing (participle present)
portaged (participle past)
portaged (past)

/ˈpɔː(ɹ)tɪd͡ʒ/

From Middle English portage, borrowed from Old French portage, from Late Latin portāticum.

Two months have now elapsed since the work was first begun, viz: from the 20th of last December to the 20th instant, fully one month of which has been occupied in exploring, and the remainder in camping, portageing and measuring; […]

1858 February 22, G. F. Baillargé, “I.”, in General Report of the Commissioners of Public Works, for the Year Ending 31st December, 1857: Furnished in Compliance with the Provisions of the Act, 9 Vict. Cap. 7, Toronto, Ont.: John Lovell, […], pages 74–75:

You’d better leave it to him to decide whether it’s worth lumping a canoe along and portageing.

1958, Hammond Innes, “The Labrador Railway”, in The Land God Gave to Cain: A Novel of the Labrador, London: Collins […], page 171:

Those who haven’t experienced an overnight canoe trip can’t imagine the joys, tensions and learning packed into three days of canoeing, portageing, cooking meals in the open and sleeping under the stars.

1996, Edward Mann, “Camp Counsellor”, in A Mann for All Seasons: A Memoir, Toronto, Ont.: Lugus Publications, →ISBN, page 28:


show a leg

show a leg (third-person singular simple present shows a leg, present participle show a legging, simple past show a legged, past participle shown a leg)

shows a leg (present singular third-person)
show a legging (participle present)
show a legged (past)
shown a leg (participle past)

Supposedly originated in the 19th-century Royal Navy as a waking call.

Show a leg or you’re going to be late.

(idiomatic, nautical, chiefly imperative) To wake up and get out of bed.


Galway hooker

A type of fishing boat in the west of Ireland with a distinctive black hull and red sails.


deadwood

en-noun

deadwood (countable and uncountable, plural deadwoods)

(nautical) Vertical planks between the keel and the sternpost that act as reinforcement.


skylarking

skylarking (countable and uncountable, plural skylarkings)

/ˈskʌɪlɑːkɪŋ/

[…] those gods and men whose titles to eminence are secure, seldom worry themselves about the seditious gossip of old apple-women, and the skylarkings of funny little boys in the street.

1852, Herman Melville, Pierre; or, The Ambiguities:

(originally nautical) Playing around; frolicking; originally, running about the rigging of a vessel for fun; horseplay.


mousing

mousing (countable and uncountable, plural mousings)

(nautical) A turn or lashing of spun yarn or small stuff, or a metallic clasp or fastening, uniting the point and shank of a hook to prevent its unhooking or straightening out.


gondolier

/ˌɡɒndəˈlɪə(ɹ)/

/ˌɡɑndəˈlɪɹ/

From Italian gondoliere, through French gondolier. By surface analysis, gondola + -ier.

A boatperson who propels a gondola, especially in Venice.


rowboat

(US) A small open boat propelled by oars (by rowing).


crosscurrent

(nautical) A turbulent stretch of water caused by multiple currents.

(nautical) A current in a body of water running counter to the main current or direction of travel.


sou'-sou'-east

(nautical) Alternative form of south-southeast


sou'-east

(nautical) Alternative form of southeast


sou'-east

en-adj

sou'-east (not generally comparable, comparative more sou'-east, superlative most sou'-east)

more sou'-east (comparative)
most sou'-east (superlative)


nor'-nor'-east

(nautical) Alternative form of north-northeast


nor'-east

(nautical) Alternative form of northeast


nor'-east

nor'-east (not generally comparable, comparative more nor'-east, superlative most nor'-east)

more nor'-east (comparative)
most nor'-east (superlative)


sou'-sou'-west

(nautical) Alternative form of south-southwest


nor'-nor'-west

(nautical) Alternative form of north-northwest


nor'-west

(nautical) Alternative form of northwest


nor'-west

nor'-west (not generally comparable, comparative more nor'-west, superlative most nor'-west)

more nor'-west (comparative)
most nor'-west (superlative)


sou'-west

(nautical) Alternative form of southwest


sou'-west

sou'-west (not generally comparable, comparative more sou'-west, superlative most sou'-west)

more sou'-west (comparative)
most sou'-west (superlative)


deckhand

(nautical) A member of the crew of a merchant ship who performs manual labour.


bungo

Borrowed from Spanish bongo (“large canoe”).

bor+

On the third day a bungo passed us, coming down the river from New Grenada, with a cargo and passengers to Santa Martha and the parts adjacent

1828, an officer of the Colombian Navy, Recollections of a Service of Three Years During the War-of-Extermination:

He and a number of others bought a bungo (a large canoe), and in it actually started for San Francisco, a distance of more than three thousand miles. The party chose for leader one Chris. Lilly, a pugilist, […]

2005, William Harwar Parker, Recollections of a Confederate Naval Officer, Digital Antiquaria, →ISBN, page 159:

A kind of large canoe used in the southern United States, Central America, and South America.


powder monkey

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-powder monkey.wav

(nautical) The persons employed to carry gun powder from the ship's magazine to the gun deck during a battle; in the 18th century Royal British and U. S. Navies, this task (also carrying water) during battles became a permanent nickname for the ship's cabin boys and apprentice seamen.


boatman

From Middle English boteman, botman, bateman. Equivalent to boat + -man.

A sailor on a small vessel (boat), particularly its captain.


cutch

en-noun

cutch (usually uncountable, plural cutches)

(nautical) a preservative, made from catechu gum boiled in water, used to prolong the life of a sail or net


damelopre

(nautical) A Dutch sailing barge having a mast that can be lowered for passing under a bridge


cut splice

(nautical) Two ropes spliced together to form an eye which lies shut when taut.


dagger board

(nautical) A sliding centreboard used in some Chinese junks and dinghies, allowing for speedy maneuvering.


dan buoy

Uncertain. One theory is that the term comes from "danger buoy".

A dan buoy is usually laid from aft, the anchor and sinker being hung outboard through an after fairlead and the dan buoy hung from a tripping hook on a whip from the minesweeping davit, the mooring being led outboard.

1970 [1938], Great Britain. Hydrographic Department, chapter 1, in Admiralty Manual of Hydrographic Surveying, volume 2, United Kingdom: Hydrographer of the Navy, Dan Buoys (section 18), page 19:

(nautical) A small buoy, sometimes made of cork with a small flag, used to temporarily mark a position at sea, normally to mark a fishing ground, a minesweeping area, or a man overboard.


currach

From Irish curach, corrach, from Proto-Celtic *kurukos (“boat”).

Some days he went out in the currach with her father and her brothers, out past Blue Island and Inishlackan, where the mackerel and sea salmon were fat as piglets.

2002, Joseph O'Connor, Star of the Sea, Vintage, published 2003, page 53:

(nautical) An Irish boat, constructed like a coracle, and originally the same shape; now a boat of similar construction but conventional shape and large enough to be operated by up to eight oars.


cut and run

en-verb

cut and run (third-person singular simple present cuts and runs, present participle cutting and running, simple past cut and ran, past participle cut and run)

cuts and runs (present singular third-person)
cutting and running (participle present)
cut and ran (past)
cut and run (participle past)

(nautical) To cut the anchor cable and not wait to weigh it.


cutwater

For two hours we laboured, Mahomed, Job, and I, who was supposed to be strong enough to pull against the two of them, on the bank, while Leo sat in the bow of the boat, and brushed away the weeds which collected round the cutwater with Mahomed's sword.

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

(nautical) The forward curve of the stem of a ship.


cuddy

Uncertain. Perhaps a contraction from Dutch kajuit (“cabin”).

Being summoned to the cuddy to breakfast, I had not been there five minutes when I turned deadly sick, was obliged to retire to my cot […] .

1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 77

It was a strong measure I own, walking into your cuddy, and calling for drink as if I was the Captain […]

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 44, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

The sight of that watery-eyed old Jones mopping his bald head with a red cotton handkerchief, the sorrowing yelp of the dog, the squalor of that fly-blown cuddy which was the only shrine of his memory, threw a veil of inexpressibly mean pathos over Brierly’s remembered figure, the posthumous revenge of fate for that belief in his own splendour which had almost cheated his life of its legitimate terrors.

1900, Joseph Conrad, chapter 6, in Lord Jim:

(nautical) A cabin, for the use of the captain, in the after part of a sailing ship under the poop deck.


bargeman

Laurie still has Sam's work log from 1919–1934, a fifty-page volume documenting Sam's day-to-day experiences and serves well to show the kind of working conditions an Ouse bargeman endured in the 1920s.

2017, David Lewis, River Ouse Bargeman: A Lifetime on the Yorkshire Ouse, page 38:

A barge owner, maintainer, or captain of a barge.

(slang) A large white grub that frequently infested ship's biscuits; most likely a larva of the cadelle beetle, Tenebroides mauritanicus.


bear a hand

bear a hand (third-person singular simple present bears a hand, present participle bearing a hand, simple past bore a hand, past participle borne a hand)

bears a hand (present singular third-person)
bearing a hand (participle present)
bore a hand (past)
borne a hand (participle past)

Hawkins, neither you nor I are much account at the shooting; we’ll stand by to load and bear a hand.

1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island:

The Old Wife is ready to bear a hand in the work of harvesting.

1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 7:

(nautical, idiomatic, chiefly imperative) To make haste; to help quickly.


foiling

(nautical) Clipping of hydrofoiling. The action of sustained hydrodynamic lift on hydrofoils lifting the vessel hull lifted out of the water, for sustained motion across water.


blanketing

en-noun

blanketing (countable and uncountable, plural blanketings)

The latter hailed for water, and was so much more nimble in coming round, that she managed to get on ‘Gwendolin’s’ weather before she had gathered way, and gave her such a complete blanketing as left her almost in irons.

1894, Edward Sullivan et al., Yachting, London: Longmans, Green, Volume I, Chapter , p. 144:

(nautical, slang) A manoeuvre in which one vessel covers or becalms another with its sails.


keelhauling

‘We was a-talkin’ of keel-hauling,’ answered Morgan. / ‘Keel-hauling, was you? And a mighty suitable thing, too, and you may lay to that. Get back to your place for a lubber, Tom.’

1883 November 14, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London: Cassell and Company, →OCLC:

The British, French and Dutch navies also practiced a grimmer form of choking. Sailors hung the victim from the lowest beam (the yardarm) of the main mast on one side of the ship and then, using pulleys, dragged him with ropes beneath the ship's keel to the other side of the long beam. This was called “keelhauling.” Keelhauling was not some ancient nautical torture. It originated with the modern navy. […] The British abolished keelhauling in 1720 and the French and Dutch in 1750. The practice continued unofficially for some years afterward, but there are no British records of keelhauling after 1770, and the last Dutch record was in 1806.

2007, Darius Rejali, “Choking”, in Torture and Democracy, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 282:

(nautical) The act by which a person is keelhauled.


lightening

(nautical) The removal of cargo (especially crude oil) from a vessel in order to reduce its draft


ship's biscuit

ship's biscuit (countable and uncountable, plural ship's biscuits)

I found nothing else to do but to offer him one of my good Swede’s ship’s biscuits I had in my pocket.

1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 206:

I found a ship's biscuit and a wizened apple in my sketch sack. They smelled of turpentine and revolted my appetite. At dusk I ate them greedily.

1941, Emily Carr, chapter 21, in Klee Wyck:


cappabar

Uncertain. First attested 1818 as cap a bar. Dated or obsolete by the early 20th century.

If e'er the Fortune of the war
Gave him a Prize, he'd cap a bar
Like blazes--but stand clear! that elf
Who dared to steal besides himself.

Burton, Alfred (1818) The Adventures of Johnny Newcome in the Navy, London: Methuen and Co., page 209

Patrick O'Brian, *The Mauritius Command.*
disposing of His Majesty's property was an immemorial practice among His Majesty's servants … and in the Navy it went by the name of cappabar.

(nautical, obsolete) a misappropriation of government property; embezzlement or fraud carried out in the management of a ship.


lobscouse

lobscouse (usually uncountable, plural lobscouses)

Possibly from Yorkshire dialect lob (“boil”, literally “bubbling up”) + scouse, a word of unknown origin.
Compare lapskaus, Dutch lapskous, Norwegian Bokmål lapskaus, German Lapskaus, Danish skipperlabskovs/labskovs; also English loblolly.

[A] dish of hard fish swimming in oil appeared at each end, the sides being furnished with a mess of that savoury composition known by the name of lob's course […].

1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

(nautical) A dish of meat stewed with vegetables and ship biscuit.

labskovs

meat dish stewed with vegetables and ship biscuit


hardtack

hardtack (countable and uncountable, plural hardtacks)

(all military slang)

Philander went into the next room[…]and came back with a salt mackerel that dripped brine like a rainstorm. Then he put the coffee pot on the stove and rummaged out a loaf of dry bread and some hardtack.

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

Bread and fodder had to be brought up over longer and longer distances, it was more difficult all the time, transport was lacking, the army had already eaten two-thirds of its hardtack, exhausted men were marching in baking heat along sandy roads into emptiness!

1989, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, translated by H. T. Willetts, August 1914, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 71:

(nautical) A large, hard biscuit made from unleavened flour and water; formerly used as a long-term staple food aboard ships.


quartering

Wave direction and frequency (period) are two factors that influence the effect of waves on a moored ship. Whether the ship responds by surging, swaying or yawing will depend on whether the waves are striking the moored vessel head-on, beam-on or quartering, the frequency of the waves and the manner in which the tanker is moored.

2015 November, Duncan Bruce, Tanker Jetty Safety – Management of the Ship/Shore Interface, 1st edition, Witherby Seamanship International, →ISBN, 3.1.2:

(nautical) Coming from a point well abaft the beam, but not directly astern; said of waves or any moving object.


tall ship

A large sailing ship with multiple masts and rigged sails, usually used as a training vessel.

mackerel sky and mare's-tails make tall ships carry low sails


galliot

From French galiote, from Italian galeotta, diminutive of galea; see also galley, jolly boat.

Having seen the minutes of the proceedings on the capture of the galliot the Betsy of Washington, North Carolina, captain Reynold Brown, taken the 5th of this month by the French privateer le Poisson Volant (Flying Fish) captain Thomas de Haunot—[…].

1815, State Papers and Publick Documents of the United States: 1797, page 511:

The Holy See received 19 galleys and two galliots, Spain was given 58 galleys and six galliots, while the Venetian share was 39 galleys and four galliots.

1984, Kenneth Meyer Setton, The Papacy and the Levant, 1204-1571, page 1059:

The galliots averaged about three hundred tons, and their cargo of Japanese silver must have equaled that carried by the Santa Catarina—that is, in excess of 1 million cruzados' worth.

2007, James C. Boyajian, Portuguese Trade in Asia Under the Habsburgs, 1580–1640, page 159:


galleass

1540s, from Old French galleasse, from Italian galeaza ‘large galley’, from Latin galea.

The delectableſt luſtie ſight and mouingeſt obiect, me thought it was that our Ile ſets forth, and nothing behinde in number with the inuincible Spanish Armada, though they were not ſuch Gargantuan boyſterous gulliguts as they, though ſhips and galeaſſes they would haue beene reckoned in the nauy of K. Edgar, who is chronicled& regiſtred with three thouſand ſhips of warre to haue ſcoured the narrow ſeas, and ſailed round about England euery Summer.

1599, [Thomas] Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London: […] [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] […], →OCLC, page 5:

[T]he greateſt of their Galliaſſes fell foule vpon another ſhip, and loſt her Rudder, ſo that guideleſſe ſhe droue vvith the tide vpon a ſhelue in the ſhoare of Callis, vvhere ſhee vvas aſſaulted by the Engliſh.

1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London: […] William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, […], →OCLC, book IX ([Englands Monarchs] […]), paragraph 210, page 861:

(nautical, historical) A type of rowable vessel of the 16th and 17th centuries, similar to a galley but larger, and normally equipped with sails.


ferryboat

→ Albanian: ferribot

→ Bulgarian: ферибот (feribot)

→ Greek: φέρι μποτ (féri bot)

→ Japanese: フェリーボート (ferībōto)

→ Macedonian: ферибот (feribot)

→ Portuguese: ferryboat

→ Romanian: feribot

desc

fèribot//фѐрибот

→ Serbo-Croatian: fèribot／фѐрибот

→ Sicilian: ferrubbottu

→ Turkish: feribot

/ˈfɛɹiˌbəʊt/

He insists that it is practically undisputed that, when the ferryboat crossed the bow of the tug to make her slip, she crossed at a distance of at least 300 feet away

1893, James Wells Goodwin, Peyton Boyle, Robert Desty, The Federal reporter, volume 54, page 206:

The ferryboat "Argentina" rides toward Golden Gate, her ocean-going prow slicing the waves.

It was on this vessel that the founder of the second largest ferryboat company on Puget Sound...

1983, Mary Stiles Kline, George Albert Bayless, Ferryboats: a legend on Puget Sound, link:

(nautical) A boat used to ferry passengers, vehicles, or goods across open water, especially one that runs to a regular schedule


gammon

Perhaps related to the first etymology, with reference to tying up a ham.

(nautical) A rope fastening a bowsprit to the stem of a ship (usually called a gammoning).


spinnaker

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-spinnaker.wav

(nautical) A sail supplemental to the mainsail, especially a triangular one, used on yachts for running before the wind.


spinnaker

en-verb

spinnaker (third-person singular simple present spinnakers, present participle spinnakering, simple past and past participle spinnakered)

spinnakers (present singular third-person)
spinnakering (participle present)
spinnakered (participle past)
spinnakered (past)

On the port tack layline , you're defenseless against starboard tackers — you have to dip them , no matter how much you may lose doing it — and the wind shadow of boats spinnakering away from the mark can cost you plenty.

1995, Tom Linskey, Race Winning Strategies:

We spinnakered out into the Atlantic and, fortunately, the wind died as night fell.


gunboat

Knock knock. It's the United States. With huge boats (with guns); gunboats.

2016 February 2, Bill Wurtz, 4:45 from the start, in history of japan:

(nautical) Any of the various types of small armed vessels.


seaworthiness

The ship leaked like a sieve and rode like a barrel; in other words it was completely lacking in seaworthiness.

(nautical) The property of a watercraft that makes it fit to go to sea.


touch and go

touch and go (third-person singular simple present touches and goes, present participle touching and going, simple past touched and went, past participle touched and gone)

touches and goes (present singular third-person)
touching and going (participle present)
touched and went (past)
touched and gone (participle past)

(nautical) To touch bottom lightly and without damage, as a vessel in motion.


hermaphrodite brig

en-noun

hermaphrodite brig (plural hermaphrodite brigs)

So called because it is a hybrid of the two main types of sail plan.

About noon we saw a vessel on a wind to leeward of us, which was a source of great delight to us all, and we bore down to her. We soon made her out to be an hermaphrodite brig, under her close-reefed topsails and trysails.

1846, Frederick Marryat, The Privateersman:

(nautical) A two-masted sailing ship which has square sails on the foremast combined with a schooner rig on the mainmast (triangular topsail over a gaff mainsail).


lose the number of one's mess

en-verb

lose the number of one's mess (third-person singular simple present loses the number of one's mess, present participle losing the number of one's mess, simple past and past participle lost the number of one's mess)

loses the number of one's mess (present singular third-person)
losing the number of one's mess (participle present)
lost the number of one's mess (participle past)
lost the number of one's mess (past)

"What do you think we come to sea for? If we can take a man-of-war of our own size she's worth half a dozen merchant craft, though, to be sure, some of us may lose the number of our mess; but we all know that, and make no count of it."

1870, W.H.G. Kingston, From Powder Monkey to Admiral:

Shore folk think sailors are heartless, and that when a poor chap is lost overboard, they only say that "So-and-so has lost the number of his mess!" and, after having an auction over his kit in the fo'c's'le, then dismiss him from their memory!

"And then before the mast, there was poor John Proby, who lost the number of his mess two days out of Callao."

1993, Patrick O'Brian, The wine-dark sea:

(nautical, idiomatic) To die, to perish.


ephemeris

en-noun

ephemeris (plural ephemerides or ephemerises)

ephemerides (plural)
ephemerises (plural)

From New Latin ephēmeris, from Ancient Greek ἐφημερίς (ephēmerís, “diary, calendar”), from ἐφήμερος (ephḗmeros, “daily”).

der

[…]Mr. Samuel got 150 pounds of bread, with a small quantity of rum and wine, also a quadrant and compass; but he was forbidden on pain of death to touch either map, ephemeris, book of astronomical observations, sextant, timekeeper, or any of my surveys or drawings.

1792, William Bligh, chapter 13, in A Voyage to the South Sea:

(astronomy, nautical) A table giving the apparent position of celestial bodies throughout the year; normally given as right ascension and declination.


telltale compass

en-noun

telltale compass (plural telltale compasses)

To my great surprise, however, when I emerged from my state-room and caught a glimpse of the tell-tale compass hanging in gimbals in the skylight opening of the main cabin, I saw that the ship was heading to the eastward! — Harry Collingwood, "The Pirate Slaver", 1895

The captain was quick enough, racing back to the companion and down the stairs in two bounds, where, although the cabin was half full of water, he contrived to wrench away the "tell-tale" compass that swung over the saloon-table; and he was on the poop again with it in an instant. The instrument, however, was heavy, but he had hard work to carry it with both hands; and he managed to get to the side with it. — J.C. Hutcheson, "Teddy", 1887

(nautical) A compass installed in the cabin so that the captain or other officer may check the course of a ship without going to the deck; often upturned and suspended from the ceiling.


sister ship

(nautical) A ship built to the same design and dimensions as another or belongs to the same owners as another.


Tirpitz

A German battleship during the Second World War, the sister ship to the Bismarck.


horse

horse (countable and uncountable, plural horses)

→ Maori: hōiho

→ Sranan Tongo: asi

→ Quiripi: hosses (from the plural horses)

From Middle English horse, hors, from Old English hors (“horse”), from Proto-West Germanic *hors, *hross, from Proto-Germanic *hrussą (“horse”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥sós (“vehicle”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (“to run”). Doublet of car. Cognate with North Frisian hors (“horse”), West Frisian hoars (“horse”), Dutch ros, hors (“horse”), German Ross (“horse”), Danish hors (“horse”), Swedish russ, hors (“horse”), Icelandic hross, hors (“horse”).

a camel is a horse designed by a committee

a nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse

close the barn door after the horse has bolted

close the stable door after the horse has been stolen

close the stable door after the horse has bolted

lock the stable door after the horse has been stolen

lock the stable door after the horse has bolted

shut the stable door after the horse has bolted

you can't put the shit back in the horse

zeal without knowledge is a runaway horse

Also Horse harness on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

See Horse-drawn vehicles on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Note: Many of these were adapted into and/or gave their names to motor vehicle types

with the horse-drawn originals often being forgotten.

A rope stretching along a yard, upon which men stand when reefing or furling the sails; footrope.

(nautical) Type of equipment.
A breastband for a leadsman.

An iron bar for a sheet traveller to slide upon.

The old “horse” has made way for the “foot-rope", though we still retain the term “Flemish horse" for the short foot-rope at the top-sail yard-arms

1887, William Clark Russell, A Book for the Hammock:

(nautical) Type of equipment.
A jackstay.


CAG

CAG (countable and uncountable, plural CAGs)

(military, aviation, nautical) Initialism of commander of the air group.


roundhouse

(nautical, now chiefly historical) The uppermost room or cabin of any note upon the stern of a ship.

(nautical, now historical) A privy near the bow of a vessel, especially as reserved for officers.

Crewe North Motive Power Depot is to be modernised completely. This includes the provision of a new coaling plant, ash handling plant, and two new locomotive sheds of the latest roundhouse type, each with 32 roads radiating from a 70-ft. dia. turntable.

1948 November and December, “Crewe M.P.D. to be Modernised”, in Railway Magazine, page 372:

Archaeologists working on HS2 in Birmingham have uncovered the remains of what is believed to be the world's oldest railway roundhouse at Curzon Street station.

2020 March 25, “Network News: HS2 work uncovers oldest roundhouse”, in Rail, page 16:

(rail transport) A circular building in which locomotives are housed.

депо

a circular building in which locomotives are housed


gangplank

From gang (“way, path, course of travel”) + plank (“board”).

compound

Every since the age of six Troy Belknap of New York had embarked for Europe every June on the fastest steamer of one of the most expensive lines. With his family he had descended at the dock from a large noiseless motor, had kissed his father good-bye, turned back to shake hands with the chauffeur (a particular friend), and trotted up the gang-plank behind his mother's maid, [...]

1918, Edith Wharton, chapter I, in The Marne, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 1:

(nautical) A board used as a temporary footbridge between a ship and a dockside.


dead men

en-noun

dead men pl (normally plural, singular dead man)

(nautical) The ends of reefs left flapping instead of being tucked out of sight when a sail has been furled.


dead water

dead water (countable and uncountable, plural dead waters)

A "deadwater," that is a region occupied by stationary fluid or by gas at suitable pressure, ahead of a concave angle was shown to be possible by Villat.

1967, David W. Taylor, Report - Naval Ship Research and Development Center, page 295:

(nautical) The eddying water under a slow-moving ship's counter, or a similar area of stationary fluid or gas in advance of a concave angle, which can occur when there is strong vertical density stratification (due to salinity or temperature or both), and can cause ships to become hard to control.


baggywrinkle

baggywrinkle (countable and uncountable, plural baggywrinkles)

(nautical) A brush-like pad made of rope, attached to a shroud in order to prevent wear on sails.


cargo hold

(nautical) A hold on a ship (a ship's hold includes the forehold and stern hold), used to store cargo during a voyage.


monkey's fist

(knots, nautical) A type of knot tied at the end of a rope to serve as a weight, making it easier to throw the line.


sheepshank

Originally sheepshank knot or sheepshanks knot, from sheep + shank (“part of the leg between the knee and ankle”); the connection between the knot and a sheep’s leg is unclear.

compound

(nautical) A type of knot which is useful for shortening a rope or taking up slack without cutting it.


shipyard

A place where ships are built and repaired.


squaresail

(nautical) Alternative form of square sail


foreyard

(nautical) A yard on the lower mast of a square-rigged foremast of a ship used to support the foresail.

trinchetto

a yard on the lower mast of a square-rigged foremast of a ship used to support the foresail


square sail

(nautical) A sail bent to a horizontal yard set athwartships.


preventer

(nautical) An arrangement, made with ropes and blocks, that prevents the boom of a sailing boat from performing a jibe.

preventteri

arrangement that prevents the boom from jibing

(nautical) Any of various lines set up to reinforce or relieve ordinary running or standing rigging.


clewline

If the halyards are not single, the yard must be sent down by a yard rope, like the topgallant yard. In some vessels, instead of making the sheets and clewlines fast to the jack, over-hand knots are taken in their ends, and they are let go.

1863, Richard Henry Dana Jr, Captain Brown, Dana's Seaman's friend, page 24:

(sailing) Outermost of the ropes with which a square sail is rolled up to the yard

supistin

outermost of the ropes with which a square sail is rolled up


grounding

en-noun

grounding (countable and uncountable, plural groundings)

The act by which a child is grounded (forbidden from going out, using electronics, etc.).


spreader

(nautical) A horizontal athwartships spar attached to the mast of a sailboat in order to extend the shrouds away from the mast.

salingshorn

horizontal spar attached to the mast of a sailboat in order to extend the shrouds


boom vang

(nautical) A line or piston system on a sailboat used to exert downward force on the boom and thus control the shape of the sail; a martingale.

kicking strap

A line system on a sailboat to exert downward force on the boom


jeer capstan

(nautical) An extra capstan usually placed between the foremast and mainmast.


leech line

The leechline is ordinarily anchored at the head of the sail[…]

1984, Sven Donaldson, A Sailor's Guide to Sails, page 130:

(nautical) A line for tightening the leech of a triangular mainsail to prevent it from fluttering.


navigational chart

navigational chart (plural navigational charts)

(nautical) Synonym of nautical chart (“maritime map showing characteristics which are relevant for seafarers”)


radar reflector

radar reflector (plural radar reflectors)

A device designed to reflect radar waves well in order to make it clearly visible on radar screens. Radar reflectors can be installed for example in boats or signal buoys.


headboard

(nautical) A panel, usually of metal, attached to the head of a fore-and-aft sail for additional strength.


supertanker

But the task is like trying to turn a super tanker round 180 degrees - it can't be done quickly.

2024 June 12, Sir Michael Holden, “A manifesto for our railway to thrive”, in RAIL, number 1011, page 42:


supercargo

supercargo (plural supercargos or supercargoes)

supercargos (plural)
supercargoes (plural)

/ˈsuːpəˌkɑːɡəʊ/

From earlier supracargo, borrowed from Italian sopracargo, dialectal form of sopraccarrico, from sopra- + carrico.

[...] and at night, when the boat sailed along easily before a light breeze, and the sailors were gathered on the upper deck, while the captain and the supercargo lolled in deck-chairs, smoking their pipes [...]

1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 58”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:

An officer on board a merchant ship who has charge of the cargo and its turnover (or the senior of two if one has two, the other being the subcargo; usually historical, since nowadays a person with such a job would remain on shore).

Cargadeur

a fake-French term used historically by the Hanse

Cargador m (same from Spanish, where it means a stevedore)


slops

The original "slops" were voluminous breeches of about knee length, reminiscent of 17th century "petticoat breeches", worn with stockings; these continue to be depicted as late as 1790s, but trousers, first introduced as slop-clothing in 1720s, were more functional and more popular.

2012, Philip Haythornthwaite, Nelson's navy, page 26:

(nautical, historical) Sailors’ breeches ending just below the knees or above the ankles, worn mainly in XVIII century.

(nautical, dated) Clothing and bedding issued to sailors.


milch cow

From Middle English melche cow, mylche cowe.

(military, slang) A German WWII submarine designed to carry large cargoes of supplies and transfer them to other submarines.


shipmate

"And who else?" returned the other, getting more at his ease. "Black Dog as ever was, come for to see his old shipmate Billy, at the 'Admiral Benbow' inn. Ah, Bill, Bill, we have seen a sight of times, us two, since I lost them two talons," holding up his mutilated hand.

1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

(nautical) A fellow sailor serving on the same ship as another.

(nautical, informal) Any sailor (when used as a form of address by a sailor).


shipload

It might, under all the circumstances above stated, have been a question with other builders, whether to import one shipload of costly jaspers, or twenty of chalk flints; and whether to build a small church faced with porphyry and paved with agate, or to raise a vast cathedral in freestone.

1853, John Ruskin, “IV, St. Mark's”, in The Stones of Venice, volume II (The Sea-Stories), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, § XXVII, page 77:

The Penrhyn slate quarry possibly dates back to the sixteenth century, as it appears that in 1580 Sion Tudor asked the Bishop of Bangor for a shipload of slate.

1945 May and June, Charles E. Lee, “The Penrhyn Railway and its Locomotives—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 138:

Alas, our shipload of Pelts, upon which we had borrow'd heavily, approaching the Channel, was surpriz'd by one of Monseer's Privateers and like that, ta'en.

1997, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 66, in Mason & Dixon, 1st US edition, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, part Two: America, page 641:

(nautical) The amount (of cargo) that a ship can carry.


shipboard

Inherited from Middle English schip bord; equivalent to ship + board.

inh+

(nautical) Occurring or existing on board a ship.


slipway

(nautical) A sloping surface, leading down to the shore or to a river, on which ships are built, repaired or stored and from which they are launched.


groundswell

(nautical, surfing) A broad undulation of the open ocean, often as the result of a distant disturbance.


centerboard

(American spelling, nautical) Alternative spelling of centreboard


gunkhole

(nautical) A small cove, especially a small fishing community.


gunkhole

en-verb

gunkhole (third-person singular simple present gunkholes, present participle gunkholing, simple past and past participle gunkholed)

gunkholes (present singular third-person)
gunkholing (participle present)
gunkholed (participle past)
gunkholed (past)

(nautical) To cruise in shallow coastal waters, spending the nights in gunkholes.


rhumb line

Coordinate term: orthodrome

On portolan maps rhumb lines were all the go long before Mercator's time. […] It's a different matter putting a straight rhumb line on a map made for a round world. And on a map made for the whole world.

1964, David Greenhood, Mapping, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 128:

(nautical) A line that cuts all meridians at the same angle, the path of a vessel that maintains a constant compass direction.

loksodromio

a line cutting all meridians at a constant angle


lugsail

1885, Alexander Stewart, ’Twixt Ben Nevis and Glencoe: The Natural History, Legends, and Folk-Lore of the West Highlands, Edinburgh: William Paterson, Chapter 46, p. 336,
It was a bright afternoon, with just enough wind over the quarter to set our lugsail well abulge, and make our little “Penguin” dance merrily over the rippling wavelets.

A quadrilateral sail bent upon a yard that crosses the mast obliquely; a lug.


corrector magnet

en-noun

corrector magnet (plural corrector magnets)

(nautical) Any of several small bar magnets placed and adjusted within a ship's binnacle to correct for the effects of other magnetic influences in the ship.


crossbeam

(nautical) A beam laid across the bitts, to which the cable is fastened when riding at anchor.


freshen

en-verb

freshen (third-person singular simple present freshens, present participle freshening, simple past and past participle freshened)

freshens (present singular third-person)
freshening (participle present)
freshened (participle past)
freshened (past)

to freshen a hawse

[...] when a ship is to lie with all winds that may blow, the best anchor and open hawse should be towards the worst wind that may blow, to raise the waves, and give the ship a pitching motion [...] and must leave no more of the smallest moorings within board, than just enough to freshen the hawse on occasion;

1777, William Hutchinson, “On Mooring Ships”, in A Treatise on Practical Seamanship, Liverpool, page 73:

(transitive, nautical) To relieve, as a rope, by change of place where friction wears it; or to renew, as the material used to prevent chafing.


fenestration

en-noun

fenestration (countable and uncountable, plural fenestrations)

(nautical) The practice of placing holes in the rudder of a ship to reduce the work required to move the rudder while preserving its ability to steer the ship.


radio beacon

(communication, aviation, nautical, navigation) A beacon that emits radio wave signals to guide ships or aircraft or to indicate the position of a ship, aircraft, or other object, person, or vehicle.

emergency position indicating radio beacon


put about

en-verb

put about (third-person singular simple present puts about, present participle putting about, simple past and past participle put about)

puts about (present singular third-person)
putting about (participle present)
put about (participle past)
put about (past)

It had been incurred by a little fellow, young, a novice, an afterguardsman absent from his assigned post when the ship was being put about.

(intransitive, nautical) To change direction.


pinnace

From Middle French pinasse, from Spanish pinaza, from pino (“pine”) + -aza.

I cast my eyes to the ship, and there she rode, within little more than half a mile of the shore; for they had weighed her anchor as soon as they were masters of her, and, the weather being fair, had brought her to an anchor just against the mouth of the little creek; and the tide being up, the captain had brought the pinnace in ...

(nautical) A light boat, traditionally propelled by sails, but sometimes a rowboat. Pinnaces are usually messenger boats, carrying messages among the larger ships of a fleet.


register ton

(nautical, obsolete) A unit of a ship's capacity equal to 100 cubic feet or 2.83 m³.


displacement ton

en-noun

displacement ton (plural displacement tons)

(nautical) A unit approximately equal to the volume of a long ton weight of seawater, used in reckoning the displacement of ships, and equal to 35 U.S. or Imperial cubic feet.


Scotchman

(nautical) A piece of wood or stiff hide placed over shrouds and other rigging to prevent chafe by the running gear.


grayslick

(US, dialect, Maine, nautical, rare) Glassy, calm seawater.


banyan day

According to the OED, the term is borrowed from the Banyans in the East Indies, a caste that ate nothing that had life.

This was a favourable circumstance in one respect to myself and the ship's company, for as Tuesday is a sumptuous day in point of allowance in the navy, beef and pudding being the prescribed fare for dinner, we by this accident feasted two days together; whereas had it occurred on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, two successive banyan (or starvation) days would have been our dismal portion.

1819, James Hardy Vaux, Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux, Chapter XVIII, p. 204-205:

(dated, UK, nautical, idiomatic) In British naval tradition, a day of the week when galley kitchens served no meat on board ship.

(UK, nautical, idiomatic) A picnic or cookout for the ship's crew.


hawsehole

The bolsters can be seen outboard of the hawseholes, and the way they are cut away to permit the passage of the anchor-cables.

1986, Jean Boudriot, The Seventy-four Gun Ship, page 59:

Then he saw. a few feet aft of the hawsehole, a darker spot on the hull—someone had left a porthole open below the forecastle. in the hold that was the crews' quarters.

2002, David Sherman, Demontech, Book 1: Onslaught, page 21:

Its overlapping steel plates and the empty hawseholes, from which the anchors will soon be suspended, are visible.

2004, Nelson H. Lawry, Glen M. Williford, Leo K. Polaski, Portsmouth Harbor's Military and Naval Heritage, page 86:

(nautical) The hole through which a ship's anchor rope is passed.

(nautical) A hole in a ship through which a hawser is passed.


jet ski

Genericized trademark of Jet Ski. By surface analysis, jet + ski.

"Jet ski" is actually Kawasaki's name for their PWC (personal water craft) models, but like hoovers and speedos has become genericised.

2006 October, “Gimme Fuel: High Octane Advise for Buying a Ski”, in Tracks magazine, page 154:

A small motorized watercraft with a flattish hull and an upright centre, which a rider sits astride.


pea coat

desctree

→ Russian: пиджа́к (pidžák), пиджа́къ (pidžák) — Pre-reform orthography (1918), пинджак (pindžak), пинжак (pinžak), спинжак (spinžak)
→ Armenian: պիջակ (piǰak)
→ Azerbaijani: pencək
→ Chamalal: пи́ᵸджак (pı̇̃́džak)
→ Chinese:
Mandarin: 皮夾克／皮夹克 (píjiākè)
→ Georgian: პიჯაკი (ṗiǯaḳi)
→ Kyrgyz: пиджак (pidjak)
→ Mongolian:
Cyrillic script: пиджак (pidžak)
Mongolian script: ᠫᠢᠳᠵᠠᠺ (pidǰak)
→ Tajik: пиҷак (pijak)
→ Ukrainian: піджа́к (pidžák)
→ Uzbek: pidjak
⇒ Russian: пинжа́к (pinžák)
→ Azerbaijani: pencək
→ Belarusian: пінжа́к (pinžák)
→ Estonian: pintsak
→ Ingrian: pinžakka
→ Kazakh: пенжек (penjek)
→ Turkmen: penjek

(nautical) A coat of heavy, navy-coloured wool, originally worn by sailors of European navies.


showboat

(US) A river steamboat having a resident theatre.


monotype

en-noun

monotype (countable and uncountable, plural monotypes)

From mono- + type or mono- + -type. The printing technique is so called because it allows only one impression to be taken.

(sailing) A sailboat designed to be crewed or raced by a single person.


surf boat

A type of boat used in surf lifesaving to go from shore out through the breaking waves, and back again. Current designs are rowed by a crew of four, with a sweep at the back steering. Originally used for mass rescues, but now superseded by powered craft and used only for competition.


marline

en-verb

marline (third-person singular simple present marlines, present participle marlining, simple past and past participle marlined)

marlines (present singular third-person)
marlining (participle present)
marlined (participle past)
marlined (past)

From Middle English merlin, from Middle Low German marling, from Middle Dutch marlijn (“cord”), from marlen (“secure, fasten”), frequentative of maren (“to moor”), from Proto-Germanic *mairōną (“to moor, fasten to”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer-.

der

to marline a rope


twinship

The Royal George, a twinship, was nearly as much approved of; and these two ships, by their fast sailing, were the principal, causes of the defeat of the enemy's fleets . . .

1837, Edward Pelham Brenton, The Naval History of Great Britain:

(nautical) Either of a pair of ships of exactly the same design


broad in the beam

Ah! She's not that old green launch with a yellow line, very broad in the beam?

1890 February, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Baker Street Irregulars”, in The Sign of Four (Standard Library), London: Spencer Blackett […], →OCLC, page 145:

(nautical, of a ship) Wide across the hull.


ASROC

(US, military, nautical) Abbreviation of Anti-Submarine Rocket (an antisubmarine missile system)


Irish pennant

(British, nautical) A loose or untidy end of a line or other part of the rigging of a sailing ship


Galway

Anglicization of Irish Gaillimh, of uncertain meaning, said to mean "stony' (referring to the River Corrib). If so, it probably derives from Old Irish calad (“hard”); compare caillou, of Gaulish origin.

In England there are Brighton Beach boats, Centre-board sloops, Pollywogs, Lough Erne yachts, Unas, New Brighton sailing-boats, yachts of the Norfolk Broads, Itchen, Clyde sailing and Keystone boats, Penzance luggers, Cobbles, Galways, Hookers and Pookhauns […]

1884, James Douglas Jerrold Kelley, American Yachts: Their Clubs and Races, page 161:


neaped

(nautical) Left aground on the height of a spring tide, preventing floating till the next spring tide.


sea anchor

(nautical) A parachute-like device designed to slow down the speed of a drifting ship or boat and to keep its bow pointing to the wind.


make way

en-verb

make way (third-person singular simple present makes way, present participle making way, simple past and past participle made way)

makes way (present singular third-person)
making way (participle present)
made way (participle past)
made way (past)

(nautical, of a vessel) To progress through the water.


make way

(nautical) an instruction to get out of the way of someone else, usually because they are carrying something and need a clear pathway. Compare with gangway.


consolidator

(shipping) a business which groups different orders into one shipment.


dodger

en-noun

dodger (countable and uncountable, plural dodgers)

(countable, nautical) A frame-supported canvas over the companionway (entrance) of a sailboat providing the on-deck crew partial cover from the splashes of the seas that break against the hull of the boat.

корабна тента

nautical: companionway cover in a sailboat


flag officer

(military, nautical) A naval officer with the rank of rear admiral or above. Such officers are entitled to fly a personal flag, especially on the flagship.


flag rank

flag rank (countable and uncountable, plural flag ranks)

(nautical, Royal Navy) The rank of a flag officer.


crabber

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-crabber.wav

From crab (“crustacean having five pairs of legs”) + -er (occupational suffix) or + -er (relational noun suffix).

affix

In the bright haze of morning they came into Hort Harbor, where a hundred craft were moored or setting forth: fishermen's boats, crabbers, trawlers, trading-ships, two galleys of twenty oars […]

1972, Ursula K. Le Guin, The Farthest Shore:

(nautical) A boat used for catching crabs.


orlop

From Middle English overlop (“deck of a single-decker”), from Middle Low German overlop (“which leaps overhead”). Compare overloop.

der

VVhen you haue berthed or brought her [the ship] vp to the planks, vvhich are thoſe thicke timbers vvhich goeth fore and aft on each ſide, vvhereon doth lie the beames of the firſt Orlop, vvhich is the firſt floore to ſupport the plankes doth couer the Hovvle, thoſe are great croſſe timbers, that keepes the ſhip ſides aſunder, the maine beame is euer next the maine maſt, […]

1627, Iohn Smith [i.e., John Smith], “How to Build a Ship with the Definitions of All the Principall Names of Euery Part of her Principall Timbers, also How They are Fixed One to Another, and the Reasons of Their Vse”, in A Sea Grammar, with the Plaine Exposition of Smiths Accidence for Young Sea-men, Enlarged. […], London: […] Iohn Haviland, →OCLC, page 5:

(nautical) The platform over the hold of a ship that makes up the fourth or lowest deck, hence in full called orlop deck, especially of a warship.


befogged

en-adj

befogged (comparative more befogged, superlative most befogged)

more befogged (comparative)
most befogged (superlative)

[…] this morning he was close aboard the N. Coast, it seemeth high ragged land and full of guts, he was becalmed and befogged, and stood S. wards into the channell […]

1635, Luke Foxe, North-west Fox, London: Thomas Fawcet, page 171:

The fact is, he knew every rock, the set of every current at every season of the year, and in his younger days had often gone to the assistance of befogged vessels and piloted them safely into harbour or clear of the coast.

1912, Theodore Goodridge Roberts, chapter 20, in Blessington’s Folly, London: John Long, page 306:


quinquereme

From Latin quīnquerēmis (“5-oared”), from quīnque (“five”) + rēmus (“oar”) + -is (suffix forming compound adjectives).

Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir / Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine / With a cargo of ivory, / And apes and peacocks, / Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.

(history) An ancient Carthaginian or Greek galley having three banks of oars, rowed by five oarsmen: two to an oar in each of the upper rows, and one to the lower oar.


felucca

From Italian feluca, from Arabic فَلُوكَة (falūka).

"We are very fortunate, Senhora," said Alvarez, as soon as they were in the street; "there is a felucca on the point of sailing to Naples—I have secured a passage, but we must not lose a minute."

1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, pages 151–152:

Shipping of every sort, from passenger liners to ferry steamers, tramps to tugs and trailing barges, feluccas to speedboats and yachts, from warships to caiques, chugs, hoots, glides or churns its way in all directions.

1950 July, J. C. Mertens, “By the "Taurus Express" to Baghdad”, in Railway Magazine, page 435:

"The ghostly feluccas passing along the canal are crewed by ghouls with wrapped heads." Lawrence Durrell, Justine

A traditional wooden shallow-draught sailing boat used in the Mediterranean and along the Nile in Egypt, its rig consisting of one or two lateen sails.


bowse

en-verb

bowse (third-person singular simple present bowses, present participle bowsing, simple past and past participle bowsed)

bowses (present singular third-person)
bowsing (participle present)
bowsed (participle past)
bowsed (past)

unk

unknown

(nautical) To haul or hoist (something) with a tackle.


bouse

en-verb

bouse (third-person singular simple present bouses, present participle bousing, simple past and past participle boused)

bouses (present singular third-person)
bousing (participle present)
boused (participle past)
boused (past)

unk

Of unknown origin.


motorboating

(slang) The act of placing one's head between a woman's breasts and making the sound of a motorboat with one's lips whilst moving the head from side to side.


boater

From Middle English botere; equivalent to boat + -er. The use of the term for a straw hat stems from the fact that straw hats were the preferred head covering during sunny boat trips on canals and rivers.

(nautical) Synonym of boatman, particularly its captain.


beamy

en-adj

beamy (comparative beamier, superlative beamiest)

beamier (comparative)
beamiest (superlative)

From Middle English beami, bemi, equivalent to beam + -y.

(nautical) Having much beam or breadth; wide.


put back

en-verb

put back (third-person singular simple present puts back, present participle putting back, simple past and past participle put back)

puts back (present singular third-person)
putting back (participle present)
put back (participle past)
put back (past)

The French […] had put back to Toulon.

1813, Robert Southey, The Life of Horatio, Lord Viscount Nelson:

(intransitive, nautical) To turn back; to return.


oysterman

(nautical) A boat used to dredge for oysters


rum-tum

A light rowing boat used for racing on the Thames


racking

en-noun

racking (countable and uncountable, plural rackings)

(nautical) spun yarn used in racking ropes


hogframe

(nautical) A trussed frame extending fore and aft, usually above deck, and intended to increase the longitudinal strength and stiffness, used chiefly in American river and lake steamers.


even keel

[T]he rude winds died away; and gradually a light breeze sprang up directly aft, filling out every sail, and wafting us smoothly along on an even keel.

1855, Washington Irving, “The Bermudas”, in Woolfert’s Roost and Other Papers:

(nautical) The situation in which a watercraft is floating or proceeding in a smooth and level manner.


tallboy

By surface analysis, tall + boy, but the furniture sense may have been originally modeled after lowboy, related to French bois (“wood”).


forecastle lamp

forecastle lamp (plural forecastle lamps)

(nautical) A lamp hung in the forecastle of a ship to allow sailors to work and relax after dark.


grouser

(nautical) A temporary pile driven into the bottom of a river to hold a boat in position; a spud.


Mother Carey's chicken

Mother Carey's chicken (plural Mother Carey's chickens)

A few blue petrels, black sheer-waters and Mather Caries chickens are all the birds we see.

1773, James Cook, The Journals, Second Voyage, 27 December

Kemp watched sperm whales and green turtles and hundreds of gulls and petrels – known as “Mother Carey's chickens” – that flew around the ship with piercing screams.

2004, Nicholas Shakespeare, In Tasmania, Harvill Press, p. 36


Admiral of the Fleet

(nautical) The highest-ranking officer in the Royal Navy.


fantail

The Paranoids cast off, backed the Godzilla II out from the pier, turned and with a concerted whoop took off like a bat out of hell, nearly sending Di Presso over the fantail.

1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 3, in The Crying of Lot 49, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, page 38:

(nautical) An overhanging deck at the stern of a ship.


signalize

en-verb

signalize (third-person singular simple present signalizes, present participle signalizing, simple past and past participle signalized)

signalizes (present singular third-person)
signalizing (participle present)
signalized (participle past)
signalized (past)

a ship signalizes its consort

(transitive, chiefly nautical) To communicate with (someone) by means of a signal.


flyby

(nautical) A sailby performed by a hydrofoil vessel while hydrofoiling.


cruise ship

(nautical) A passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are considered an essential part of the experience.


forepeak

(nautical) The part of the hold of a ship within the angle of the bow


first-rate

(UK, military, nautical, historical) Of a Royal Navy ship of the line in the Napoleonic Era: having at least 100 guns across three gun decks, a complement of 850–875, and weighing approximately 2,500 tons burthen.


first-rate

(UK, military, nautical, historical) A first-rate ship of the line.


exploder

(military, nautical) A device to trigger explosions in torpedoes.


seacock

(nautical) A valve in the hull of a vessel used to let in water, either to clean the bilges, flood a ballast tank, or scuttle the vessel


riverboat

A watercraft designed for operating on rivers.


cast away

cast away (third-person singular simple present casts away, present participle casting away, simple past and past participle cast away)

casts away (present singular third-person)
casting away (participle present)
cast away (participle past)
cast away (past)

The mutineers cast away the ship's officers in the longboat.

Intelligence has been received at Hong Kong of the total loss of the ship Libelle while on a voyage to that port from San Francisco, having on board a valuable cargo and specie to the extent of £76,000 in dollars, and a number of passengers, among whom were Madame Anna Bishop, Miss Phelan, Mr. M. Schrutz, and Mr. Charles Lascelles, of the English Opera Company, who, with other artists, were on a musical tour. The ship was cast away on the night of the 4th of March, on an uninhabited and dangerous reef called Wake Island, in the China Seas.

1866 August 18, “LAST NEWS OF ANNA BISHOP”, in The Musical World, volume 44, number 33, London, →OCLC, page 521:


round robin

/ˌɹaʊnd ˈɹɒbɪn/

From round (adjective) + robin. Sense 1 (“senses relating to something with a round shape, or which goes around”) is connected with the word round, while sense 2 (“senses relating to people, animals, or plants”) is connected with some English regional senses of the word robin where it is used in the names of various fish and plants which are not related to the red-breasted bird. However, apart from the alliteration, it is not clear why the two words came to be linked together in compounds. It is possible that the term was first used to refer to sense 1.13.1 (“consecrated host”) which appears to be the earliest attested sense, and then extended to other senses either having the sense of round or robin.
Alternatively, it has been suggested that the term is a corruption of French ruban rond (literally “round ribbon”), referring to the practice in 17th-century France of signing on ribbons which were then attached to petitions of grievances in a circular manner: see sense 1.1. However, this etymology does not explain the senses of the term unrelated to a signed document.

der

This being approved of, it vvas unanimouſly reſolved on, and the undervvritten Petition dravvn up and ſigned by the vvhole Company in the Manner of vvhat they call a Round Robin, that is, the Names vvere vvrit in a Circle, to avoid all Appearance of Pre-eminence, and leaſt any Perſon ſhould be mark'd out by the Government, as a principal Rogue among them.

1724, Charles Johnson [pseudonym], “Of Captain [Henry] Anstis, and His Crew”, in A General History of the Pyrates, […], 2nd edition, London: Printed for, and sold by T. Warner, […], →OCLC, pages 332–333:

[T]he Method uſed by Sailors vvhen they mutiny, by ſigning their Names in an orbicular manner, vvhich they call, a round Robin; vvhence the Phraſe, VVe have him as round as a Robin.

1731 June 16 (Gregorian calendar), “A View of the Weekly Disputes and Essays in this Month. [Craftsman, Sat. June 5. No. 257.]”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym; Edward Cave], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine: Or, Monthly Intelligencer, volume I, number VI, London: […] F. Jefferies, […], published June 1731, →OCLC, page 238, column 2:

The Epitaph, vvritten for him [Oliver Goldsmith] by Dr. [Samuel] Johnſon, became the ſubject of converſation, and various emendations vvere ſuggested, vvhich it vvas agreed ſhould be ſubmitted to the Doctor's conſideration. But the queſtion vvas, vvho ſhould have the courage to propoſe them to him? At laſt it vvas hinted, that there could be no vvay ſo good as that of a Round Robin, as the ſailors call it, vvhich they make uſe of vvhen they enter into a conſpiracy, ſo as not to let it be knovvn vvho puts his name firſt or laſt to the paper.

1791, James Boswell, quoting William Forbes, “[1776]”, in The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. […], volume II, London: […] Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, […], →OCLC, page 92:

[page 75] Making use of the stationery thus provided, I indited, upon a chest-lid, a concise statement of our grievances; concluding with the earnest hope, that the consul would at once come off, and see how matters stood, for himself. Right beneath the note was described the circle about which the names were to be written; the great object of a Round Robin being to arrange the signatures in such a way, that, although they are all found in a ring, no man can be picked out as the leader of it. […] [page 76] Folded, and sealed with a drop of tar, the Round Robin was directed to "The English Consul, Tahiti;" and, handed to the cook, was by him delivered into that gentleman's hands as soon as the mate went ashore.

1847 March 30, Herman Melville, “The Round Robin—Visitors from Shore”, in Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, pages 75–76:

There seems some doom over this ship. Already a hand short, and entering on the Bay of Biscay with wild weather ahead, and yet last night another man lost—disappeared. Like the first, he came off his watch and was not seen again. Men all in a panic of fear; sent a round robin, asking to have double watch, as they fear to be alone.

1897, Bram Stoker, “Cutting from ‘The Dailygraph,’ 8 August (Pasted in Mina Murray’s Journal.) From a Correspondent.”, in Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, →OCLC, chapter VII, page 92:

Some of them wanted it to be an honest ship and others were in favour of keeping it a pirate; but the captain treated them as dogs, and they dared not express their wishes to him even in a round robin.

1911, J[ames] M[atthew] Barrie, “The Return Home”, in Peter and Wendy, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 233:

(also attributive) Senses relating to something with a round shape, or which goes around.

(originally nautical) A document (usually containing a complaint or petition) originally with the signatures arranged in a circle, and later often alphabetically, to disguise the order of signing and to indicate that the signatories are collectively responsible for it.

kehän muotoon allekirjoitettu kirje

document with signatures arranged to disguise the order of signing

傘連判状 (kasarenbanjō, literally “umbrella petition”)


cross-trees

Quick as thought, I sprang into the mizzen shrouds, rattled up hand over hand, and did not draw a breath till I was seated on the cross-trees.

1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island:

(nautical) Two horizontal beams at the top of the lower and top masts, used to spread rigging and as a standing place for sailors.


trow

en-noun

trow (countable and uncountable, plural trows)

(dated, nautical, countable) Any of several flat-bottomed sailing boats used for fishing or for carrying bulk goods.


SV

SV (countable and uncountable, plural SVs)

(nautical) steamship; Initialism of steam vessel.

(nautical) sailboat; Initialism of sailing vessel.


taughten

en-verb

taughten (third-person singular simple present taughtens, present participle taughtening, simple past and past participle taughtened)

taughtens (present singular third-person)
taughtening (participle present)
taughtened (participle past)
taughtened (past)

From Middle English toght (“stretched, strained, tight”).

inh

[…] then, waiting for low tide, we could taughten the chains again, and repeat the process till we got her ashore.

1876, R.M. Ballantyne, Under the Waves; or, Diving in Deep Waters, Reprint edition, Gutenberg Project, published 2007:

(chiefly nautical) To tighten; increase in intensity; to become taught.


passenger ship

A ship whose primary function is to carry passengers.


outpoint

en-verb

outpoint (third-person singular simple present outpoints, present participle outpointing, simple past and past participle outpointed)

outpoints (present singular third-person)
outpointing (participle present)
outpointed (participle past)
outpointed (past)

(nautical) To sail closer to the wind than (another ship).


wide berth

Steer to port and give the rocks a wide berth.

(nautical) Adequate distance from sea vessels or other objects to ensure safety and maneuverability.

nautical: adequate distance from other objects

riittävä etäisyys (used with verb pitää)


penteconter

Borrowed from Ancient Greek πεντηκόντορος (pentēkóntoros, literally “fifty-oared”).

bor+

πεντηκόντορος

(history, obsolete) A galley-type Grecian vessel with fifty oars.


prize-taking

(dated, nautical) The capturing of an enemy ship at sea; this results in a payment to all hands from the Admiralty.


astronavigation

(nautical) Navigation by using the positions of the stars and other heavenly bodies


celestial navigation

(nautical) Navigation by using the positions of the stars and other heavenly bodies.

stjernenavigasjon

navigation by using the positions of the stars


stern chaser

(nautical) A gun or cannon mounted on the stern of a ship for firing at a pursuing vessel.


ahold

Lay her a hold, a hold, ſet her two courſes off to Sea againe, lay her off.

1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

w:Webster's Dictionary#Webster's New International Dictionary 1909

(nautical, obsolete) (of a ship) Brought to lie as near to the windward as it can to get out to sea, and thereby held steady.


carabine

en-verb

carabine (third-person singular simple present carabines, present participle carabining, simple past and past participle carabined)

carabines (present singular third-person)
carabining (participle present)
carabined (participle past)
carabined (past)

From French carabine. Doublet of carbine.

(transitive, nautical or climbing) To attach via carabiner.


three-decker

(nautical, historical) A sailing warship that had guns on each of three decks.


rogue wave

Then one giant crest spills green water over the bow and stops our 100-ton vehicle as though it had ploughed into a gargantuan hay bale. . . . The rogue wave our experimental 78-foot craft hit must have been well over 10 feet high.

1974 June, Ben Kocivar, “75-knot ocean-going surface-effect ship”, in Popular Science, volume 204, number 6, retrieved 2015-10-28, page 91:

One of her owners, Mark Litchfield, was quoted by United Press International as saying a “rogue wave” might have knocked the ship over.

1984 June 4, Robert D. McFadden, “18 Missing, 1 Dead and 9 Rescued as Tall Ship is Lost near Bermuda”, in New York Times, retrieved 2015-10-28:

Scientists still don't know exactly how rogue waves occur, nor do they know how to predict them.

2010 March 4, Bryan Walsh, “Cruise-Ship Disaster: How Do ‘Rogue Waves’ Work?”, in Time, retrieved 2015-10-28:

(nautical, surfing) An unexpected, dangerously large wave.


allide

allide (third-person singular simple present allides, present participle alliding, simple past and past participle allided)

allides (present singular third-person)
alliding (participle present)
allided (participle past)
allided (past)

The ship allided with the pier.

...the presumption operable here is the standard to which the operator is held: prudently navigated vessels do not allide with wharfs or moored vessels or aids to navigation.
...Implicit in the presumption is the standard of care to which an operator is held, i.e., prudently navigated vessels do not allide with fixed, charted structures.

1984 "United States. National Transportation Safety Board Decisions Volume IV: Enforcement Decisions in Aviation and Marine Cases. January 1, 1982 — December 31, 1984 pp 2020 — 2021

(nautical) To impact a stationary object.


clear the decks

clear the decks (third-person singular simple present clears the decks, present participle clearing the decks, simple past and past participle cleared the decks)

clears the decks (present singular third-person)
clearing the decks (participle present)
cleared the decks (participle past)
cleared the decks (past)

(nautical) To remove, or fasten, all loose material, or partitions prior to a naval engagement.


maintop

(nautical) A platform at the top of a square-rigged vessel's mainmast; used for observation and for the attachment of rigging.


trimmer

(nautical) A member of the crew who trims the sails.

Trimmers are used to stow the coal in the vessel, and, in the case of vessels with awkwardly-situated cargo spaces, a great deal of trimming may be involved. Vessels specially constructed for coal carrying have very wide hatches, and these may be easy trimmers, that is, need only a minimum of trimmers or self trimmers which require only the final cover of coal over each hold to be levelled down by trimmers. Trimmers are employed by the shipowners and they are paid tonnage rates.

1945 January and February, T. F. Cameron, “Dock Working”, in Railway Magazine, page 11:

(shipping, historical) A person employed to rearrange the coal in the hold of a vessel, so that it fills the vessel without forming a conical blockage.


troopship

[…] the Duke of Rothesay and the Duke of York, however, are serving as troopships to and from Harwich, and it is unlikely that they will be released for some time to come.

1946 May and June, “Notes and News: Anglo-Irish Steamship Fleets”, in Railway Magazine, page 185:

The former, on the other hand, would put his troopships safely out of its reach.

1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 65:

A ship used to transport military troops.


tramper

A Greek ship wants 30 pounds of feta cheese, a British tramper requests five cases of steak and kidney pies, a Japanese auto carrier orders 75 pints of boiled octopus, […]

2005, Robert C. Keither, Baltimore Harbor: A Pictorial History, →ISBN, page 194:

(nautical) A ship, typically a bulk freighter, which does not travel on a fixed route; compare liner.


metacentric stability

(nautical) The tendency of a ship or other water-going vessel to remain upright due to its centre of gravity being below its centre of buoyancy, ie. basically having most of its weight down low.


underrun

underrun (third-person singular simple present underruns, present participle underrunning, simple past underran, past participle underrun)

underruns (present singular third-person)
underrunning (participle present)
underran (past)
underrun (participle past)

(nautical) To pass along and under, e.g. a cable, for the purpose of taking it in or examining it.

(nautical) To separate the parts of (a tackle) and put them in order.


reduced cat

(nautical) A version of the cat-o'-nine-tails (multi-tail whip), which has only five (instead of nine) 'tails' (thongs) of smooth whipcord.


black cat

black cat (third-person singular simple present black cats, present participle black catting, simple past and past participle black catted)

black cats (present singular third-person)
black catting (participle present)
black catted (participle past)
black catted (past)

The team name derives from the Lynx wildcat of 702 Naval Air Squadron’s badge and also the naval slang of “Black Catting” which implies having done or owned something better than anyone else.

(Can we date this quote?), (Please provide the book title or journal name):

(nautical slang) To do better than another in some respect; to one up.


ECDIS

information system
information system#English

(nautical) Acronym of electronic chart display and information system.


pay out

pay out (third-person singular simple present pays out, present participle paying out, simple past and past participle paid out or (nautical sense, rare) payed out)

pays out (present singular third-person)
paying out (participle present)
paid out (participle past)
paid out (past)
payed out (participle past rare)
payed out (past rare)

(nautical, transitive) To slacken a rope by lengthening it; to allow a rope to run out.


pilothouse

The funnel projected through that roof, and in front of the funnel a small cabin built of light planks served for a pilot-house.

1899, Joseph Conrad, chapter 2, in Heart of Darkness:


goring

(nautical) Cut gradually sloping, so as to be broader at the clew than at the earing of a sail.


hogged

en-adj

hogged (comparative more hogged, superlative most hogged)

more hogged (comparative)
most hogged (superlative)

I would not consider a ship unseaworthy because she had a hog. There is no danger to life in sailing in a hogged ship. I have sailed in vessels having a 2-ft. hog in the keel. The keel has been straightened by being filled in underneath.

1920, The Records of the Proceedings and the Printed Papers, Parliamentary paper:

(nautical) Broken or strained so as to have an upward curve between the ends.


swifter

(nautical) A rope used to retain the bars of the capstan in their sockets while it is being turned.

(nautical) A rope used to encircle a boat longitudinally, to strengthen and defend her sides.

(nautical) The forward shroud of a lower mast.


swifter

en-verb

swifter (third-person singular simple present swifters, present participle swiftering, simple past and past participle swiftered)

swifters (present singular third-person)
swiftering (participle present)
swiftered (participle past)
swiftered (past)

(nautical, transitive) To tighten (e.g. slack standing rigging) by bringing the opposite shrouds nearer.


clubhaul

clubhaul (third-person singular simple present clubhauls, present participle clubhauling, simple past and past participle clubhauled)

clubhauls (present singular third-person)
clubhauling (participle present)
clubhauled (participle past)
clubhauled (past)

From club + haul; derived from nautical clubbing (dragging an anchor along the seabed) and hauling (changing direction).

(transitive, nautical) To force (a sailing vessel) to change tack by dropping the lee-anchor and hauling in the anchor cable to swing the stern to windward.


arching

(nautical) hogging, as opposed to sagging


oiler

From Middle English oyler, equivalent to oil + -er.


dunderfunk

(obsolete, nautical) ship's biscuit broken up, mixed with molasses etc. and baked


International Load Line

en-noun

International Load Line (plural International Load Lines)

(nautical) A mark on the hull of a merchant ship to show the waterline under specified conditions, indicating the maximum load that the ship may carry.


ULDB

ultra light displacement boat
ultra light displacement boat#English

(nautical) Initialism of ultra light displacement boat. Ultra lightweight racing sailboat that is especially fast when running downwind under spinnaker, developed and popularized in California, home of major downwind races.


pan-pan

From French panne (“breakdown”), reduplicated.

It should be a relatively simple matter (particularly on a modern yacht) to teach almost anyone to heave-to, take the position from an electronic navigator, then make a PAN-PAN call on the radio (see below).

1996, John Mellor, Handling Troubles Afloat, page 179:

You can use the same outline for Pan Pan calls.

2005, Bob Armstrong, Getting Started in Powerboating, page 170:

If you transmit a Pan-Pan call, then find that you no longer require assistance, you must cancel the message.

2006, Elbert S. Maloney, Chapman Piloting & Seamanship, page 411:

(aviation, shipping) A radio call indicating a minor emergency requiring some assistance, or priority in handling, but not endangering the safety of the vessel or those aboard.


orlop deck

(nautical) An orlop, the lowest deck in a ship.


maiden voyage

The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage.

For one thing, it was a maiden voyage, which always meant both passengers and staff were a little giddier, a little looser, than usual.

1998, Cynthia Bass, Maiden Voyage, Random House Publishing Group, →ISBN:

(nautical) The first trip of a vessel in its intended duty.


furball

[…]But, as with the furball that had broken out around San Francisco, things escalated once again, as Teruzuki rolled better on her perception check, ambushing Sterett and blowing enough holes in her to force the U.S. destroyer to withdraw.

2021 March 10, Drachinifel, 22:21 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 1 (IJN 3(?) : 2 USN), archived from the original on 2022-11-07:

(military, aviation, nautical, slang) A large, disorganized battle involving many different aircraft (especially fighters) or warships.


go by the board

en-verb

go by the board (third-person singular simple present goes by the board, present participle going by the board, simple past went by the board, past participle gone by the board)

goes by the board (present singular third-person)
going by the board (participle present)
went by the board (past)
gone by the board (participle past)

(idiomatic, nautical) To fall or to go overboard; to be cast over the side of a ship.


capitaine

(traducted from french to english): "Captain, I didn't tell you that I speak french very well too. My old girlfriend mentored me, when I was working at Merten Orbital Station." Confused, the capitaine look at Thomas and said:
"Indeed, it's surprise me very much..."

1996 April 12, Nicola Pezolet, “SS Alsace (FT) #21, Cafe' discussions”, in alt.starfleet.rpg (Usenet), retrieved 2022-05-27:

Of course, a Capitaine of a ship having already a mutinery aboard before he got the chair is not very pleasant. I didn't mean to criticize Souvannaphouma solely. His XO, Cox'n and the rest of the personel could have gave their support to their CO.

1998 April 6, CHOWIGAN, “INSULTED”, in soc.culture.laos (Usenet), retrieved 2022-05-27:

The company is a Malaysian one, the capitaine is a Malaysian one. I guess he doesn't want to lose his boat in the sea or to have any trouble, so he manages his business with wisdom. Last september, I stayed one full day in Koh Kong because it was impossible to travel due to the storm. The capitaine did not try to go. If the boat leave the port, it means thet it's 100% safe.The boats on the sea are 10 times better than the boat from PP to Siem Reap.

1999 March 15, Robert White, “Warning - Travel to and in Cambodia”, in soc.culture.thai (Usenet), retrieved 2022-05-27:

I sort of get the fanatical devotion to, say, Gionta. Even if injured or seeming to play uninspired hockey (relative to his old self, anyway), he's the capitaine and at least has a relatively longstanding reputation as a sparkplug and clutch scorer.

2013 May 7, Gerry, “Well, That Was Pretty Disgraceful”, in alt.sports.hockey.nhl.mtl-canadiens (Usenet), retrieved 2022-05-27:

(non-native speakers' English or in reference to a French-speaking person) A captain.


slab

From Middle English sclabbe, slabbe, of uncertain origin; possibly from *slap, related to dialectal slappel (“portion, piece”), along with slape (“slippery”), sleip (“smooth piece of timber”), borrowed through Old Norse sleipr from Proto-Germanic *slaipaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leyb-. See also Norwegian sleip (“slippery”) and Icelandic sleipur.


fall off

fall off (third-person singular simple present falls off, present participle falling off, simple past fell off, past participle fallen off)

falls off (present singular third-person)
falling off (participle present)
fell off (past)
fallen off (participle past)

From fall + off; and also dissimilated from Middle English offallen (“to destroy, defeat, ruin, fail”), from Old English offeallan (“to fall upon, destroy”).

der

'Why d'ye see, Captain Vangs,' says bold Jack, 'I'm as good a helmsman as ever put hand to spoke; but none of us can steer the old lady now. We can't keep her full and bye, sir; watch her ever so close, she will fall off and then, sir, when I put the helm down so gently, and try like to coax her to the work, she won't take it kindly, but will fall round off again; and it's all because she knows the land is under the lee, sir, and she won't go any more to windward.'

1854, Benjamin Robbins Curtis, Lawrence v. Minturn, Opinion of the Court
She would not mind her helm, but would fall off; she would settle down aft and take in water over her stern, and plunged heavily forward.

The pilot-boy, who was on the look-out forward, and was keeping the boat from falling off by using the starboard oar, as the current went in a westerly direction, answered that he thought "it went a little easier forward."

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 182:

There was the constant danger of the ship, now- broadside on to the heavy seas, falling off before the heavy wind, and leading the flames forward again.

1898, Kipling, The Burning of the Sarah Sands:

(nautical) To change the direction of the sail so as to point in a direction that is more down wind; to bring the bow leeward.


refit

en-verb

refit (third-person singular simple present refits, present participle refitting, simple past and past participle refitted or refit)

refits (present singular third-person)
refitting (participle present)
refitted (participle past)
refitted (past)
refit (participle past)
refit (past)

1669, uncredited translator, Memoires of Henry, D. of Guise, London: Henry Herringman, Book 5, p. 499,
[…] I discovered two Gallies making towards Nicita, whom I saluted with two Cannons, which I levelled and fired my self, so happily, that one of them being shot through between wind and water, was fain to go off to refit, and the other had three or four slaves killed.

As soon as we were out of danger, we came to anchor and refitted;

1789, Olaudah Equiano, chapter 9, in The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, volume 2, London: for the author, page 117:

A little to leeward of this was a small cluster of islands, where we were going to refit, abounding with delicious fruits […]

1847, Herman Melville, chapter 9, in Omoo:

“She’s a cargo ship, isn’t she?” she asked. “Goods, and that?”
 I nodded. “She hasn’t got anything in her now. She’s just come up from Falmouth in ballast. She’s come in to refit.”

1932, Nevil Shute, chapter 6, in Lonely Road, London: Heinemann:

The Leinster has been in use as a hospital ship and a transport, but is now released and is refitting for her regular service.

1946 March and April, “Notes and News: Anglo-Irish Steamship Fleets”, in Railway Magazine, page 118:

(intransitive, nautical) To prepare a vessel for use again (e.g. by replenishing depleted supplies or doing maintenance or repair work); (of a vessel) to be prepared for use again.


arm the lead

arm the lead (third-person singular simple present arms the lead, present participle arming the lead, simple past and past participle armed the lead)

arms the lead (present singular third-person)
arming the lead (participle present)
armed the lead (participle past)
armed the lead (past)

(obsolete, nautical) To fill the hollow in the bottom of a sounding lead with tallow in order to discover the nature of the bottom by the substances adhering.


polacre

Uncertain; from either French polacre (“Pole, Polish”) or Italian polacca (“Polish woman, Polish (feminine adj)”).

Before the Princess went to Palestine, do you know in what part of the polacre she slept?

1820, J. H. Adolphus, editor, A Correct, Full, and Impartial Report, of the Trial of Her Majesty, Caroline, Queen Consort of Great Britain, Before the House of Peers; on the Bill of Pains and Penalties, page 95:

If that be so with respect to the Aum case, what shall we say to the case now established in proof onboard the polacre; that case which they have been unable by any evidence to shake, or by any observation to destroy?

1822, The Annual Register, or a View of the History, Politics, and Literature, of the Year 1822, Part 2, page 1137:

As he approached the polacre he was surprised to see a Union Jack being hung over her gunwale.

2007, David Cordingly, Cochrane the Dauntless: The Life and Adventures of Thomas Cochrane, 1775-1860, page 138:

(nautical, obsolete or historical) A 17th-century three-masted merchant ship.


forge over

forge over (third-person singular simple present forges over, present participle forging over, simple past and past participle forged over)

forges over (present singular third-person)
forging over (participle present)
forged over (participle past)
forged over (past)

When the morning broke, they found that the vessel had forged over the reef, about four or five miles, not having more than two feet water; the reef extending for nine or ten miles to the S.E.

1857, Chris Biden, Want of a Light on the Pratas Shoal:

(nautical) To press on regardless of hindrances.


full speed ahead

Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

We had advanced a hundred yards, perhaps, when our first danger confronted us. Just ahead was a sharp right-angle turn in the tunnel. I could see the river's flotsam hurtling against the rocky wall upon the left as it was driven on by the mighty current, and I feared for the safety of the U-33 in making so sharp a turn under such adverse conditions; but there was nothing for it but to try. I didn't warn my fellows of the danger--it could have but caused them useless apprehension, for if we were to be smashed against the rocky wall, no power on earth could avert the quick end that would come to us. I gave the command full speed ahead and went charging toward the menace. I was forced to approach the dangerous left-hand wall in order to make the turn, and I depended upon the power of the motors to carry us through the surging waters in safety.

1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IV, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:

(usually nautical) A command to move forward at maximum speed.


full speed ahead

Then he gave it full speed ahead, and shot us into the inlet.

(usually nautical) Maximum speed on a ship.


bibbs

(nautical) Pieces of timber bolted to certain parts of a mast to support the trestletrees.


tye

(nautical) A chain or rope, one end of which passes through the mast, and is made fast to the center of a yard; the other end is attached to a tackle, by means of which the yard is hoisted or lowered.


point of sail

(nautical) A sailing vessel's course in relation to the wind direction.


goose wing

(nautical) A position of sails in a fore-and-aft rigged sailboat, in which the mainsail is set to the leeward and the jib to the windward. This position may be used when running (almost) straight downwind. One of the clews or lower corners of a course or a topsail when the middle part or the rest of the sail is furled.


wet dock

1957, J. D. Salinger, "Zooey", in, 1961, Franny and Zooey, 1991 LB Books edition, page 90,
It was rather as though, after being in makeshift wet dock for days, the Queen Mary had just sailed out of, say, Walden Pond, as suddenly and perversely as she had sailed in.

(nautical) A dock that has a constant level of water in which a vessel floats despite the tide; usually achieved by separating the dock from the sea by a lock.


outport

Outport or provincial contacts like those of Cogan, Vassal, Bidgood, or Samuel Cole were exceptions. To a remarkable extent the first exchanges of goods were carried on between London and Boston. In fact, the bulk of the traffic originated in a few streets of the English capital.

1955, Bernard Bailyn, The New England Merchants In The Seventeenth Century, Harvard University Press, page 36:

A port city or harbor which is secondary to a main port; it may be a distant one or a nearby auxiliary one.


sailing vessel

(nautical) A boat or ship powered by wind in its sails; a sailboat or sailing ship.