strake

From Middle English strake, from Old English *straca (> Anglo-Latin straca), from Proto-West Germanic *strakō, from Proto-Germanic *strakaz (“straight”). Akin to Old English streċċan (“to make straight, stretch”).

cog

With regard to materials, all the frames should be of oak and so should the stem piece, stern post, upper portion of dead woods, knight heads, apron, beams, shelf clamp, bilge strakes, and keelson; the keel will generally be found to be either English or American elm. The garboard strakes are generally of American elm, and it is best that the planking above should be of American elm or oak to within a foot or so of the load water-line, and teak above to the covering board or deck edge.

1884, Dixon Kemp, A Manual of Yacht and Boat Sailing (Fourth Edition), pages 13–14:

You felt the power of the Olympic's twenty-nine boilers transmitted upward through the strakes of the hull.

2003, Erik Larson, “Prologue: Aboard the Olympic”, in The Devil in the White City, Vintage Books, page 6:

(nautical) A continuous line of plates or planks running from bow to stern that contributes to a vessel's skin. (FM 55-501).

huidgang

continuous line of planks or plates in a vessel's hull


busk

en-verb

busk (third-person singular simple present busks, present participle busking, simple past and past participle busked)

busks (present singular third-person)
busking (participle present)
busked (participle past)
busked (past)

Apparently from French busquer or Spanish buscar.


collier

From Middle English colier, from col (“coal”).

By 1830, more than two million tons of coal a year, principally from the North East, arrived in London by coastal collier, and that figure reached three million tons by the 1840s.

2021 December 1, Nigel Harris, “St Pancras and King's Cross: 1947”, in RAIL, number 945, page 42:

(nautical) A vessel carrying a bulk cargo of coal.


forward

back

antonym(s) of “in the usual direction of progress”

From Middle English foreward, from Old English foreweard (“forward, inclined to the front, fore, early, former”), from Proto-Germanic *fura- (“fore-”), *warþaz (“turned”), equivalent to fore + -ward. Cognate with Dutch voorwaarts (“forward”), German vorwärts (“forward”).

vorentoe

at, near or towards the front of something

(with a possessive pronoun agreeing with the subject) ar aghaidh

Most of the men are sleeping forward, for it is near midnight, but a stout swarthy Arab, Mahomed by name, stands at the tiller, lazily steering by the stars.

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

At, near or towards the front of something.

(nautical) At, near, or towards the bow of a vessel (with the frame of reference within the vessel).


ease

en-verb

ease (third-person singular simple present eases, present participle easing, simple past and past participle eased)

eases (present singular third-person)
easing (participle present)
eased (participle past)
eased (past)

From Middle English ese, eise, aise, from Anglo-Norman ese (“ease”), from Old French eise, aise (“elbow room; opportunity”), of uncertain and obscure origin. Apparently related to Provençal ais, Italian agio and asio, Sicilian aciu and Portuguese azo. Sometimes ascribed to Vulgar Latin *āsia or *āsium, possibly from Latin ānsa (“handle, haft”) or Frankish *ansiju (“handle, loophole, eyelet; cup-handle; arms akimbo, elbow room”), but more often derived from Vulgar Latin *adjace(m), from Latin adjacēns (“adjacent, neighbouring”), present participle of adjaceō (“lie next to, border on”), though the forms and senses are difficult to trace clearly.
Alternatively, possibly from a non-Latin source such as Germanic or Celtic on the basis of the conflicting forms which appear in various Romance languages. May be inherited from an unattested Old English *ǣse, which along with Frankish *ansiju would be inherited from Proto-Germanic *ansijō. Compare Old English īeþe (“easy”), Gothic 𐌰𐌶𐌴𐍄𐌹 (azēti, “ease; pleasure”), *𐌰𐌶𐌴𐍄𐍃 (*azēts, “easy”), Breton eaz, ez (“easy”), Irish adhais (“easy; leisure”). See also eath.
The verb is from Middle English esen, ultimately of the same origin.

der

We eased the boom vang, then lowered the sail.

(nautical, transitive) To loosen or slacken the tension on a line.

отпускам

to loosen or slacken the tension on (something)


kite

The noun is from Middle English kyte, kīte, kete (“a kite endemic to Europe, especially the red kite (Milvus milvus)”), from Old English cȳta (“kite; bittern”), from Proto-West Germanic *kūtijō, diminutive of Proto-Germanic *kūts (“bird of prey”), from Proto-Indo-European *gewH-d- (“to cry, screech”). The English word is cognate with Scots kyt, kyte (“kite; bird of prey”), Middle High German kiuzelīn, kützlīn (“owling”) (modern German Kauz (“owl”)). Possibly a doublet of coot.
Sense 3 (“lightweight toy”) is from the fact that it hovers in the air like the bird.
The verb is derived from the noun.

leko

military aviation, slang: aircraft — see also aircraft

leija

sailing, slang: spinnaker — see also spinnaker

Our good master keeps his kites up to the last moment, studding-sails alow and aloft, and, by incessant straight steering, never loses a rod of way.

Richard Mayne (2000) “kite”, in The Language of Sailing, Chicago, Ill., Manchester: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, →ISBN, page 162

(sailing, dated) In a square-rigged ship: originally a sail positioned above a topsail; later a lightweight sail set above the topgallants, such as a studding sail or a jib topsail.

The key to a good gybe is to bring the spinnaker round to the old weather side before you begin, and then to steer to keep some wind in the kite.

2014, Tim Davison, “Symmetric Spinnakers”, in Skipper’s Cockpit Racing Guide: For Dinghies, Keelboats and Yachts, London: Adlard Coles Nautical, →ISBN, page 24:

(sailing, slang) A spinnaker (“supplementary sail to a mainsail”).


kite

en-verb

kite (third-person singular simple present kites, present participle kiting, simple past and past participle kited)

kites (present singular third-person)
kiting (participle present)
kited (participle past)
kited (past)

извисявам

to cause (something) to move upwards rapidly

This column action causes the tow line to kite either to the port or the starboard side, […]

1973 December 17, Clarence K. Chatten, Saul A. Eller, Reece Folb, Arthur P. Brisbane, Weather Resistant Segmented Fairing for a Tow Cable, US Patent 3,899,991 (PDF version), column 1:

(intransitive, engineering, nautical) To deflect sideways in the water.


rack

From Middle English rakke, rekke, from Middle Dutch rac, recke, rec (Dutch rek), see rekken.

(nautical) A piece or frame of wood, having several sheaves, through which the running rigging passes.

Chief Stevens approached my rack and repeatedly ordered me to vacate my rack and report to the working party.

2008, Byron L. Smith, Prescription Music, →ISBN, page 33:

By the time I had unpacked my sea bag, made my rack, and finished a good long hot shower, it was late in the evening.

2010, Herb Brewer, Chronicles of a Marine Rifleman: Vietnam, 1965-1966, →ISBN, page 171:

I took off my helmet, sat it gently down at the head of my rack on the wooden deck, plopped my butt down on my rack again, and began taking off my stateside assbusting boots.

2016, Cpl. Osborn R. E, Like Killing Rats, →ISBN:

Do I have to do this now? Like, I really need to get some rack.

2009 December 18, 1:00:07 from the start, in Avatar, spoken by Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), 20th Century Fox:

(nautical, by extension, slang, uncountable) Sleep.


rack

rack (third-person singular simple present racks, present participle racking, simple past and past participle racked)

racks (present singular third-person)
racking (participle present)
racked (participle past)
racked (past)
rack (infinitive)

From Old English reċċan (“to stretch out, extend”).

inh

(nautical) To bind together, as two ropes, with cross turns of yarn, marline, etc.


buckler

From Middle English bukler, bokler, bokeler, bokeleer, from Old French bocler, boucler, bucler, (French bouclier) from Vulgar Latin *bucculārius (“bossed”), from Latin buccula (“boss”). Merged with buckle + -er.

(nautical) A block of wood or plate of iron made to fit a hawse hole, or the circular opening in a half-port, to prevent water from entering when the vessel pitches.


grave

en-verb

grave (third-person singular simple present graves, present participle graving, simple past and past participle graved)

graves (present singular third-person)
graving (participle present)
graved (participle past)
graved (past)

(transitive, obsolete, nautical) To clean, as a vessel's bottom, of barnacles, grass, etc., and pay it over with pitch — so called because graves or greaves was formerly used for this purpose.


stretch

stretch (third-person singular simple present stretches, present participle stretching, simple past and past participle stretched or (obsolete) straught or (obsolete) straight)

stretches (present singular third-person)
stretching (participle present)
stretched (participle past)
stretched (past)
straught (obsolete participle past)
straught (obsolete past)
straight (obsolete participle past)
straight (obsolete past)

From Middle English strecchen, from Old English streċċan (“to stretch, hold out, extend, spread out, prostrate”), from Proto-West Germanic *strakkjan (“to stretch, make taut or tight”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)treg-, *streg-, *treg- (“stiff, rigid”). Cognate with West Frisian strekke, Dutch strekken (“to stretch, straighten”), German strecken (“to stretch, straighten, elongate”), Danish strække (“to stretch”), Swedish sträcka (“to stretch”), Dutch strak (“taut, tight”), Albanian shtriqem (“to stretch”). More at stark.

cog

The ship stretched to the eastward.

(nautical) To sail by the wind under press of canvas.


roll

en-verb

roll (third-person singular simple present rolls, present participle rolling, simple past and past participle rolled)

rolls (present singular third-person)
rolling (participle present)
rolled (participle past)
rolled (past)

From Middle English rollen, partly from Old French roller, roler, röeler, röoler, from Medieval Latin rotulāre (“to roll; to revolve”), from Latin rotula (“a little wheel”), diminutive of rota (“a wheel”); partly from Anglo-Latin rollāre, from the same ultimate source.

rol

to cause something to revolve by turning over and over

rol

to move, or cause to be moved, upon rollers or small wheels

(intransitive, aviation, nautical, of an aircraft or vessel) To rotate about the fore-and-aft axis, causing its sides to go up and down. Compare pitch.

Containers will be rolled to another mother vessel.

(intransitive, shipping) To load ocean freight cargo onto a vessel other than the one it was meant to sail on.


roll

(nautical, aviation) The oscillating movement of a nautical vessel as it rotates from side to side, about its fore-and-aft axis, causing its sides to go up and down, as distinguished from the alternate rise and fall of bow and stern called pitching; or the equivalent in an aircraft.

клатене

oscillating movement of a vessel from side to side

(nautical) The measure or extent to which a vessel rotates from side to side, about its fore-and-aft axis.


lateen

The shape of the lateen sail is triangular, or precisely that of a large fore-sail; it requires a long tapering yard to spread it, which will slightly bow or bend towards the middle when a stiff breeze fills the sail; a boom is used for some lateen sails, but not for all.

1853, Henry Coleman Folkard, The Sailing Boat: A Description of English and Foreign Boats, page 75:

Not only is its supporting and controlling rigging best suited to that sail position but, even more important, the sail itself thus presents a rigid leading-edge: the mast, in the case of most modern sailboats, or the yardarm to which the sail is attached, in the case of the medieval Mediterranean lateen or the modern Sailfish.
Fore-and-aft rigs come in a variety of shapes, but the medieval Mediterranean lateen was triangular, and this too was an asset.

1976, Barbara M. Kreutz, “Ships, Shipping and the Implications of Change in the Medieval Mediterranean”, in Henrik M. Birnbaum, Patrick K. Ford, Hnry Ansgar Kelly, Richard H. Rouse, Speros Vryonis, Jr., Lynn White, Jr., editors, VIATOR: Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Volume 7, University of California Press, page 82:

The lateen sail is triangular or a quadrilateral which is almost triangular, the former being the type used by the Byzantines.

1990, Richard W. Unger, The Ship in the Medieval Economy 600-1600, page 47:

1995, George F. Hourani, John Carswell, Arab Seafaring in the Indian Ocean in Ancient and Early Medieval Times, Princeton University Press, Expanded Edition, page 103,
The mere fact that this type of lateen no longer exists in the Mediterranean proves nothing; it is always possible that it might have originated there and later given way there to the still superior triangular form. But there are more substantial reasons for believing that the lateen came from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean. The earliest evidence of the existence of lateens in the Mediterranean is in Greek Byzantine manuscripts of the late ninth century, which show drawings of lateens (Plates 5 and 6).

(nautical) A triangular fore-and-aft sail set on a boom in such way that the tack is attached to the hull of the vessel and the free end of the boom lifts the sail.


artemon

A small square sail, an artemon, was slung under the bow to act as a headsail.

1980, Richard W. Unger, The Ship in the Medieval Economy 600-1600, page 34:

(historical) A square foresail on a Roman oared ship.


fiddler

From Middle English fithelere, from Old English fiþelere, from *fiþele. By surface analysis, fiddle + -er.
(capstan-house): So called because the fiddle would sometimes be played to cheer the sailors working there.

Whereupon you shake hands with him […] and make room for him by your side in the "Fiddler," when the pleasant time of night is come, and the stewardess is tucking up the ladies, and putting oranges and other goodies under their pillows, and the menfolk assemble in the capstan house to smoke their last cigar.

1877, Official Guide and Album of the Cunard Steamship Company, page 95:

(nautical, slang) The capstan-house on a steamer.


pennon

Inherited from Middle English penoun, pennon, from Anglo-Norman penun, penoun, from Old French penne (“feather”) + -on (diminutive suffix).

af

1631, Michael Drayton, The Battaile of Agincourt, London: William Lee, p. 21,
… a ship most neatly that was lim’d,
In all her sailes with Flags and Pennons trim’d.

1780, Hannah Cowley, The Maid of Arragon, London: L. Davis et al.,
Fair Commerce wav’d her pennons in our ports;

[…] as his eye swept the horizon, clear against the rosy sky shone the white sails of a ship, so near that they could see the pennon at her mast-head and black figures moving on the deck.

1886, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, chapter 11, in Jo's Boys […] , Boston: Roberts Brothers, page 208:

(nautical) A long pointed streamer or flag on a vessel.


ratline

Apparently an alteration of raddling, after rat, line.

(nautical, uncountable) The rope or similar material used to make cross-ropes on a ship.

[H]e laid hold of the first ratline with his right hand, then sprung to the second, with his left, and so on alternately, right and left, up to the last, close to the futtock shrouds.

1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 80

That meant it was not possible to use ratlines — that is, to make rope ladders out of the shrouds by adding small connecting pieces of ropes.

(nautical) Any of the cross ropes between the shrouds, which form a net-like ropework, allowing sailors to climb up towards the top of the mast.


owner

→ Japanese: オーナー (ōnā)

(nautical, slang) The captain of a ship.


pocket

From Middle English pocket (“bag, sack”), from Anglo-Norman poket, Old Northern French poquet, poquete, diminutive of poque, poke (“bag, sack”) (compare modern Norman pouquette and modern French pochette from Old French pochete, from puche), from Frankish *pokā (“pouch”), from Proto-Germanic *pukkô, *pukô (“bag; pouch”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew- (“to blow, swell”). Doublet of pochette. Cognate with Middle Dutch poke, Alemannic German Pfoch (“purse, bag”), Old English pocca, pohha (“poke, pouch, pocket, bag”), Old Norse poki (“bag, pocket”). Compare the related poke (“sack or bag”). See also Modern French pochette and Latin bucca.

der

is that a gun in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me

(nautical) A strip of canvas sewn upon a sail so that a batten or a light spar can placed in the interspace.


plough

en-verb

plough (third-person singular simple present ploughs, present participle ploughing, simple past and past participle ploughed)

ploughs (present singular third-person)
ploughing (participle present)
ploughed (participle past)
ploughed (past)

From Middle English plouh, plow, plugh(e), plough(e), plouw, from Old English plōh (“hide of land, ploughland”) and Old Norse plógr (“plough (the implement)”), both from Proto-Germanic *plōgaz, *plōguz (“plough”). Cognate with Scots pleuch, plou, North Frisian plog, West Frisian ploech, Low German Ploog, Dutch ploeg, Russian плуг (plug), German Pflug, Danish plov, Swedish and Norwegian plog, Icelandic plógur. Replaced Old English sulh (“plough, furrow”); see sullow.

der

With speed we plough the watery way.

1725, Homer, “Book II”, in [William Broome], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:

(nautical) To run through, as in sailing.


strand

en-verb

strand (third-person singular simple present strands, present participle stranding, simple past and past participle stranded)

strands (present singular third-person)
stranding (participle present)
stranded (participle past)
stranded (past)

* From Middle English strand, strond, from Old English strand (“strand, sea-shore, shore”), from Proto-West Germanic *strand, from Proto-Germanic *strandō (“edge, rim, shore”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)trAnt- (“strand, border, field”), from Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“to broaden, spread out”). Cognate with West Frisian strân, Dutch strand, German Strand, Danish strand, Swedish strand, Norwegian Bokmål strand, Icelandic strönd.
* (street): Perhaps from the similarity of shape.

der

(transitive, nautical) To run aground; to beach.


guy

From Old French guie, linked to verb guier (“guide”), from Frankish *wītan, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *wītaną (“know”). Cognate with English guide.

(chiefly nautical) A support rope or cable used to aid in hoisting or lowering.

ванта

nautical: support rope or cable to aid in hoisting or lowering

(chiefly nautical) A support to secure or steady structures prone to shift their position or be carried away (e.g. the mast of a ship or a suspension bridge).


fiddle

→ Swahili: fidla

From Middle English fithele, from Old English *fiþele, from Proto-West Germanic *fiþulā, from Proto-Germanic *fiþulǭ (“fiddle”), of uncertain etymology. Some contest that the Germanic terms are borrowed variations of Late Latin vitula (see viola); others contest that the word has a separate origin within Germanic languages, and still others believe that the Late Latin term for the stringed instrument is a borrowing from Germanic as a change of Latin t to Germanic þ is highly improbable, yet Germanic þ to Latin t is well documented (see troop, Teobaldo, etc.). Cognate with Old High German fidula (German Fiedel), Middle Dutch vedele (Dutch vedel, veel), Old Norse fiðla (Icelandic fiðla, Danish fiddel, Norwegian fela, Swedish fela). The change from /ðl/ to /dl/ in modern English is regular; compare staddle, swaddle (in brothel, it was prevented; see that entry for discussion).

hang up one's fiddle when one comes home

there's many a good tune played on an old fiddle

The meal is served on special trays which slot into the arms of airline-type seats of the passenger coaches. The trays have fiddles for each of the plates, cups and glasses, and the crockery is so well-designed that it is seldom any of the contents get spilled.

1962 September, P. Ransome-Wallis, “The Talgo trains of Spain”, in Modern Railways, page 188:

(especially nautical) Any rail or device that prevents items from sliding off a table, stove, etc. in rough water.

balancera

nautical: device or rail for keeping items on a surface while at sea


booty

en-noun

booty (countable and uncountable, plural booties)

From Middle English buty, botye, bottyne, from Old French butin, botin, from Middle Low German bǖte (“distribution, exchange, loot”), of obscure origin, but related to Middle High German biute, German Beute (“booty”). Possibly ultimately from Proto-Celtic *boudi (“profit, gains; victory”).

unk

obscure

der

(nautical) A form of prize which, when a ship was captured at sea, could be distributed at once.


stemming

en-noun

stemming (countable and uncountable, plural stemmings)

(nautical) Movement against a current, especially a tidal current.


trick

From Middle English trikke, from Old Northern French trique (related to Old French trichier (“to defraud, act dishonestly, conceal, deceive, cheat”); > modern French tricher), itself possibly from Middle High German trechen (“to launch a shot at, play a trick on”), or one of its derivatives (e.g. Middle High German ūftrechen (“to do something to someone, hurt someone”), vertrechen (“to conceal, get over on someone”), zuotrechen (“to obtain falsely or deceitfully, wangle, finagle”), etc.); yet the Old French verb is equally likely to be derived from Vulgar Latin *triccāre, from Late Latin tricāre, from Latin trīcor, trīcārī (“dodge, search for detours; haggle, quibble”).
The term has been connected to Middle Dutch treck, trec (“draw, line, desire, game move, cord, stratagem, ruse, trick”), from Middle Dutch trekken, trēken (“to pull, place, put, move”), from Old Dutch *trekken, *trekan (“to move, drag”), from Proto-Germanic *trakjaną, *trekaną (“to drag, scrape, pull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dreg- (“to drag, scrape”). If they are related, trick would be cognate with Low German trekken, Middle High German trecken, trechen, Danish trække, and Old Frisian trekka, Romanian truc and other Romance languages.
Compare track, treachery, trig, and trigger.

der

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

(nautical) A sailor's spell of work at the helm, usually two hours long.


hermaphrodite

From Hermaphroditus, the mythical son of Hermes and Aphrodite, who merged bodies with a naiad, thereafter having both male and female qualities.

deledash

organism having both male and female gonads


garnet

Using a garnet for the lower-deck guns on the lower deck: Lash the centre of the yard to the mast, and hook both burtons to support the yard.

1893, Charles Bushell, The Rigger's Guide and Seaman's Assistant:

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

(nautical) A tackle for hoisting cargo in or out of a vessel.


throat

peak

antonym(s) of “end of a gaff next to the mast”

From Middle English throte, from Old English þrote, þrota, þrotu (“throat”), from Proto-Germanic *þrutō (“throat”), from Proto-Indo-European *trud- (“to swell, become stiff”). Cognate with Dutch strot (“throat”), German Drossel (“throttle, gorge of game (wild animals)”) (etymology 2), Icelandic þroti (“swelling”), Swedish trut.

cog

one's belly thinks one's throat has been cut

one's stomach thinks one's throat has been cut

(nautical) The upper fore corner of a boom-and-gaff sail, or of a staysail.

(nautical) That end of a gaff which is next to the mast.

The shoe iron must then become a mere loose piece of iron, and be found, on the heaving up of the anchor, to have lain on the surface of the soil between it and immediately under the throat of the anchor

1868, “Glover's Safety Anchors”, in Hunt's Yachting Magazine:

(nautical) The angle where the arm of an anchor is joined to the shank.


butt

From Middle English but, butte (“goal, mark, butt of land”), from Old English byt, bytt (“small piece of land”) and *butt (attested in diminutive Old English buttuc (“end, small piece of land”) > English buttock), from Proto-West Germanic *butt, from Proto-Germanic *buttaz (“end, piece”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰnós (“bottom”), later thematic variant of Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn ~ *bʰudʰn-, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“deep”). Cognate with Norwegian butt (“stump, block”), Icelandic bútur (“piece, fragment”), Low German butt (“blunt, clumsy”). Influenced by Old French but, butte (“but, mark”), ultimately from the same Germanic source. Compare also Albanian bythë (“buttocks”), Ancient Greek πυθμήν (puthmḗn, “bottom of vessel”), Latin fundus (“bottom”) and Sanskrit बुध्न (budhná, “bottom”), from the same Proto-Indo-European root. Related to bottom, boot.
 PIE word
 *bʰudʰmḗn.

приклад

larger or thicker end of anything; blunt end

perä

end of something, often distinguished from other end

[…] when the sun gets round to the butt of the wind, the change, if any is coming, is then to be expected.

1865, Arthur Kavanagh, The Cruise of the R.Y.S. Eva, page 62:

[…] 'the butt' of the wind, the wind will increase or continue. When the sky is light and clear in 'the butt' of the wind, the wind will die away. A strong wind which changes round with the sun E to S to W (clockwise) will die away, and[…]

2013 April 16, G. W. Maunsell, The Fisherman's Vade Mecum - A Compendium of Precepts, Counsel, Knowledge and Experience in Most Matters Pertaining to Fishing for Trout, Sea Trout, S, Read Books Ltd, →ISBN:

(countable, generally) An end of something, often distinguished in some way from the other end.

(dialect or nautical, possibly dated) The direction from which the wind blows.


wreck

From Middle English wrek, from Anglo-Norman wrek, from Old Norse *wrek (Norwegian and Icelandic rek, Swedish vrak, Danish vrag), from Proto-Germanic *wrekaną, whence also Old English wrecan (English wreak), Old High German rehhan, Old Saxon wrekan, Gothic 𐍅𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (wrikan).

An event in which something is damaged through collision.

(specifically, nautical) A shipwreck: an event in which a ship is heavily damaged or destroyed.


bay

From Middle English, from Old French baee, beee, from the verb beer (“gape open”), from Early Medieval Latin batāre. Compare Modern French baie. More at bevel, badinage.

(nautical) Each of the spaces, port and starboard, between decks, forward of the bitts, in sailing warships.


dirk

Etymology unknown, apparently from Scots dirk.
First attested in 1602 as dork, in the later 17th century as durk. The spelling dirk is due to Johnson's Dictionary of 1755.
Early quotations as well as Johnson 1755 suggest that the word is of Scottish Gaelic origin, but no such Gaelic word is known. The Gaelic name for the weapon is biodag. Gaelic duirc is merely an 18th-century adoption of the English word.
A possible derivation is from the North Germanic/Scandinavian personal name Dirk (short for Diederik), which is used of lock-picking tools (but not of knives or daggers). Alternatively a corruption of Low German Dulk, Dolk (“dagger”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *dulkaz, *dalkaz (“knife, dagger”), related to Saterland Frisian Dolk (“dagger”), West Frisian dolk (“dagger”), Dutch dolk (“dagger”), German Dolch (“dagger”).

unk

unknown

In half a minute he had reached the port scuppers, and picked, out of a coil of rope, a long knife, or rather a short dirk, discolored to the hilt with blood.

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

In this kit was the ‘Officer of the Watch’ telescope from Dolland and Sons, presented to me by my godmother, Inman's Nautical Tables, a parallel ruler, and, of course, a dirk.

1996, Frank Twiss, Social Change in the Royal Navy, 1924–1970:

(nautical) A ceremonial dagger worn by naval or air force officers in some nations' militaries; formerly, a fighting dagger used by sailors as a boarding weapon.

dirk

a ceremonial dagger worn by naval officers; formerly, a boarding weapon used by sailors


brow

From Middle English browe, from Old English brū, from Proto-West Germanic *brāwu, from Proto-Germanic *brūwō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃bʰrúHs (“brow”).
Compare Middle Irish brúad, Tocharian B pärwāne (“eyebrows”), Lithuanian bruvìs, Serbo-Croatian obrva, Russian бровь (brovʹ), Ancient Greek ὀφρύς (ophrús), Sanskrit भ्रू (bhrū)), Persian ابرو (abru, “eyebrow”), Khowar بروُ (bruú).

(nautical) The gangway from ship to shore when a ship is lying alongside a quay.

сходня

the gangway from ship to shore when a ship is lying alongside a quay

(nautical) The hinged part of a landing craft or ferry which is lowered to form a landing platform; a ramp.

ramppi

the hinged part of a landing craft or ferry which is lowered to form a landing platform; a ramp


inflatable

(nautical) A boat or dinghy that may be inflated when needed.


allision

From Latin allisiō, from allīdō (“to strike or dash against”). cf. collision.

Implicit in 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. Evidence of compliance with the required standard of care might take the form of evidence of inevitable accident, evidence of superior force, or even evidence negating the happening of the allision. In short, evidence that the operator was free of negligence or that the allision could reasonably have occurred because of factors other than the operator's negligent conduct is necessary. Based upon the evidence in the instant case, the argument that unforeseeable circumstances caused the allision misses the mark.

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

...contact of a vessel with a stationary object such as an anchored vessel or a pier. In modem practice, “collision” is often used where “allision” was once the preferred term

2004 Bryan A. Garner ed. Black's Law Dictionary (8th ed.)

(nautical) The striking of a vessel against a fixed object; the act of alliding or an instance thereof.


rider

writer (with flapping but without Canadian raising)

From Middle English ryder, ridere, from Late Old English rīdere (“rider, knight”); equivalent to ride + -er. Compare Dutch rijder, German Reiter.

kalorës

one who rides — see also cyclist, driver

fo-fhadhb

math: problem of extra difficulty added to another on an examination paper

(nautical, in the plural) The second tier of casks in a vessel's hold.


nautical mile

(historical) Synonym of sea mile, a historical Scandinavian unit of distance equal to about 4 nmi.

مِيل بَحْرِيّ

nautical: a unit of measure equal to 1852 metres


afloat

A rubber duck and other toys were afloat in the bath.

On such a full sea are we now afloat; / And we must take the current when it serves, / Or lose our ventures.

1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:


wild

en-adj

wild (comparative wilder, superlative wildest)

wilder (comparative)
wildest (superlative)

From Middle English wild, wilde, from Old English wilde, from Proto-West Germanic *wilþī, from Proto-Germanic *wilþijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“hair, wool, grass, ear (of corn), forest”).
Cognates
Cognate with West Frisian wyld, Dutch wild, German wild, Danish vild, Swedish vild, Norwegian vill, Icelandic villtur.

wild chamomile

Matricaria discoidea or Tripleurospermum inodorum

wild pink

Silene caroliniana or Dianthus sect. Fimbriatum spp.


fill

en-verb

fill (third-person singular simple present fills, present participle filling, simple past and past participle filled)

fills (present singular third-person)
filling (participle present)
filled (participle past)
filled (past)

empty

antonym(s) of “add contents to a container or cavity”

From Middle English fillen, fullen, from Old English fyllan (“to fill, fill up, replenish, satisfy; complete, fulfill”), from Proto-West Germanic *fullijan, from Proto-Germanic *fullijaną (“to make full, fill”), from *fullaz (“full”), from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós (“full”).
Cognate with Scots fill (“to fill”), West Frisian folje (“to fill”), Low German füllen (“to fill”), Dutch vullen (“to fill”), German füllen (“to fill”), Danish fylde (“to fill”), Swedish fylla (“to fill”), Norwegian fylle (“to fill”), Icelandic fylla (“to fill”) and Latin plenus (“full”)

inh

(transitive, nautical) To trim (a yard) so that the wind blows on the after side of the sails.


dunker

From dunk + -er (agent noun suffix) or + -er (patient suffix).

Active sonar, for aircraft purposes still largely associated with dunking, suffers less variability but often has less range. […] Development of both dunkers and sonobuoys continues towards lower frequencies, implying bigger arrays, and deeper deployments.

1986, Jane's Defence Weekly, volume 6, page 1285:

Then they drop the dunker into the water and spin it around a few times so you end up upside-down.

2013, Philip Kaplan, Naval Air: Celebrating a Century of Naval Flying, page 179:


camber

From Old French cambre (“bent”), from Latin camurum, from camur (“arched”).

(nautical) A small enclosed dock in which timber for masts (etc.) is kept to weather.

bolzone

nautical: small enclosed dock for mast timber


davit

The word davit is derived from Middle English and Old French daviot, which is a diminutive of David; thus it means "little David", maybe because those small cranes can handle a much bigger lifeboat.

(nautical) A spar formerly used on board of ships, as a crane to hoist the flukes of the anchor to the top of the bow, without injuring the sides of the ship.

A solid, pyramid-like hummock of ice, left to starboard as the steamer ascended, and which projected close alongside the upper, or boat-deck, as she fell over, had caught, in succession, every pair of davits to starboard, bending and wrenching them, smashing boats, and snapping tackles and gripes, until, as the ship cleared herself, it capped the pile of wreckage strewing the ice in front of, and around it, with the end and broken stanchions of the bridge.

1912, Morgan Robertson, The Wreck of the Titan: Or, Futility:

(nautical, construction) A crane, often working in pairs and usually made of steel, used to lower things over an edge of a long drop off, such as lowering a maintenance trapeze down a building or launching a lifeboat over the side of a ship.

吊艇柱

crane to sling a lifeboat, maintenance trapeze etc

fish davit

spar used to hoist the flukes of the anchor


careen

en-verb

careen (third-person singular simple present careens, present participle careening, simple past and past participle careened)

careens (present singular third-person)
careening (participle present)
careened (participle past)
careened (past)

Late 16th century, from French carène (“keel”), from Genoese Ligurian carena, from Latin carīna (“keel of a ship”). Doublet of carene and carina.

However, to avoid ſome inconveniencies relating to port duties, which would have been demanded in the port of Canton, and could not, in honour to the British flag, be complied with by us, he adviſed Mr Anſon to put into the harbour of Typa, about ſix miles from Macao, where he might careen his ſhip without diſturbance ; and actually ſent us a pilot to conduct us ſafe to the intended birth.

1749 July, “Anſon's voyage of the world”, in The Scots Magazine, volume xi, pages 333-334:

(nautical, transitive) To heave a ship down on one side so as to expose the other, in order to clean it of barnacles and weed, or to repair it below the water line.

накренявам

to heave a ship down on one side so as to expose the other

(nautical, intransitive) To tilt on one side.


careen

(nautical) The position of a ship laid on one side.


balsa

en-noun

balsa (countable and uncountable, plural balsas)

→ Irish: balsa

Borrowed from Spanish balsa, from a pre-Roman substrate of Iberia, probably Basque [Term?] or Iberian [Term?]. Not related to balsam.

A raft or float, used principally on the Pacific coast of South America.


bitt

en-verb

bitt (third-person singular simple present bitts, present participle bitting, simple past and past participle bitted)

bitts (present singular third-person)
bitting (participle present)
bitted (participle past)
bitted (past)

to bitt the cable, in order to fasten it or to slacken it gradually, which is called veering away

(nautical, transitive) To put round the bitts.


earing

(nautical) A line used to fasten the upper corners of a sail to the yard or gaff.

You've forgot to pass the tack-earing, but wid time and help ye'll larn. There's good and just reason for ivry rope aboard, or else 'twould be overboard. D'ye follow me?

1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous:

(nautical) A line for hauling the reef cringle to the yard.

(nautical) A line fastening the corners of an awning to the rigging or stanchions.


bunt

en-noun

bunt (countable and uncountable, plural bunts)

Unknown. Perhaps a nasalised variant of butt.

The bunt of the sail was green.

(nautical) The middle part, cavity, or belly of a sail; the part of a furled sail which is at the center of the yard.


bunt

en-verb

bunt (third-person singular simple present bunts, present participle bunting, simple past and past participle bunted)

bunts (present singular third-person)
bunting (participle present)
bunted (participle past)
bunted (past)

The sail bunts.


chock

From Middle English *chokke (“attested in chokkefull”), from Anglo-Norman choque (compare modern Norman chouque), from an Old Northern French variant of Old French çouche, çouche (“block, log”), of Celtic origin, from Gaulish *tsukka (compare Breton soc’h (“thick”), Old Irish tócht (“part, piece”), itself borrowed from Proto-Germanic *stukkaz. Doublet of stock.

inh

attested in <i class="Latn mention" lang="enm">chokkefull</i>

(nautical) Any fitting or fixture used to restrict movement, especially movement of a line; traditionally was a fixture near a bulwark with two horns pointing towards each other, with a gap between where the line can be inserted.

кнехт

nautical: fitting or fixture used to restrict movement, especially movement of a line


chock

en-verb

chock (third-person singular simple present chocks, present participle chocking, simple past and past participle chocked)

chocks (present singular third-person)
chocking (participle present)
chocked (participle past)
chocked (past)


chock

Tom Hickey, our good-humored, blundering cabin-boy, decorated since poor Schubert's death with the dignities of cook, is in that little dirty cot on the starboard side; the rest are bedded in rows, Mr. Brooks and myself chock aft.

1857, Elisha Kent Kane, Arctic Explorations, page 431:

Merchant vessels usually hoist a little on the halyards, so as to clear the sail from the top, then belay them and get the lee sheet chock home; then haul home the weather sheet, shivering the sail by the braces to help it home, and hoist on the halyards until the leaches are well taut, taking a turn with the braces, if the wind is fresh, and slacking them as the yard goes up.

1862, Dana's Seamen's Friend: Containing a Treatise on Practical Seamanship:


master

Sranan Tongo: masra

→ Catalan: màster

→ Finnish: master

→ French: master

→ German: Master

→ Polish: master

→ Portuguese: máster

→ Spanish: máster

→ Turkish: master

From Middle English maister, mayster, meister (noun) and maistren (verb), from Old English mǣster, mæġster, mæġester, mæġister, magister (“master”), from Latin magister (“chief, teacher, leader”), from Old Latin magester, from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s, (as in magnus (“great”)) + -ester/-ister (compare minister (“servant”)). Reinforced by Old French maistre, mestre (noun) and maistriier, maister (verb) from the same Latin source. Compare also Saterland Frisian Mäster (“master”), West Frisian master (“master”), Dutch meester (“master”), German Meister (“master”). Doublet of maestro, magister, and meister.

doublet

Southern US, African-American Vernacular, obsolete

use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house

(nautical) The captain of a merchant ship; a master mariner.


master

a two-master

(nautical, in combination) A vessel having a specified number of masts.


ganger

From Middle English ganger, from Old English gangere (“a ganger, footman”), equivalent to gang + -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Gunger, West Frisian gonger, Dutch ganger, German Gänger, Danish gjænger, ganger, Swedish gängare, Icelandic gangari.

inh

(nautical) A length of chain, one end of which is fastened to an anchor when let go, when the other end is fastened to a hawser.


cove

From Middle English cove, from Old English cofa (“chamber; den”), from Proto-West Germanic *kobō, from Proto-Germanic *kubô. Cognate with German Koben, Swedish kova. This word has probably survived as long as it has due to its coincidental phonetic resemblance to the unrelated word English cave. Also unrelated to Spanish cueva, which itself is a cognate of cave.

(nautical) The wooden roof of the stern gallery of an old sailing warship.

(nautical) A thin line, sometimes gilded, along a yacht's strake below deck level.


cowl

From Middle English coule, from Old English cūle, from earlier cugele (“hood, cowl”), from Ecclesiastical Latin cuculla (“monk's cowl”), from Latin cucullus (“hood”), of uncertain origin. Doublet of cagoule.

cucullated

having a hood-like covering or component

He flung himself at the port ventilator as though he meant to tear it out bodily and toss it overboard. All he did was to move the cowl round a few inches, with an enormous expenditure of force, and seemed spent in the effort.

1902 January–March, Joseph Conrad, “Typhoon”, in George R. Halkett, editor, The Pall Mall Magazine, volume XXVI, London: Printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney, →OCLC, chapter II, page 101:

(nautical) A ship's ventilator with a bell-shaped top which can be swivelled to catch the wind and force it below.

(nautical) A vertical projection of a ship's funnel that directs the smoke away from the bridge.


gam

en-verb

gam (third-person singular simple present gams, present participle gamming, simple past and past participle gammed)

gams (present singular third-person)
gamming (participle present)
gammed (participle past)
gammed (past)

Uncertain but surely formed within English; etymons may include game or gammon.

Although most whalemen looked forward to gamming and enjoyed these ocean-borne gatherings, there were at least a few whalemen who either grew weary of them, or just weary of gamming so often with the same ships over and over.

2008, Eric Jay Dolin, Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America, →ISBN, page 436:

This was early in the summer of 1820, after nearly a year at sea, and they had gammed the whaling ship Aurora, which had on board not only plenty of letters but some newspapers as well.

2011, Paul Schneider, The Enduring Shore: A History of Cape Cod, →ISBN, page 255:

In chapter 2 we saw how gamming whalers sang songs that tied them to their homelands while emphasizing the transient, cosmopolitan nature of their work, […]

2014, James Revell Carr, Hawaiian Music in Motion, →ISBN, page 181:

(nautical, transitive, intransitive) To pay a social visit on another ship at sea.


lugger

Variant of laggar falcon, from Hindi लग्गर (laggar).

Falconry is a difficult art to master, some species more so than others. Sakers and Luggers are known to be problematic, and easy to lose, or to lose patience with.

2013, Conor Mark Jameson, Silent Spring Revisted, page 11:

An Indian falcon (Falco jugger), similar to the European lanner and the American prairie falcon.


octant

(nautical) An instrument for measuring angles, particularly of elevation.


reeved

(nautical) Of a rope, passed through a hole, ring or pulley.


hoy

He sent to Germanie, straunge aid to reare, / From whence eftsoones arriued here three hoyes / Of Saxons, whom he for his safetie imployes.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

July 1779, William Cowper, letter to the Rev. William Unwin
The hoy went to London every week.

(nautical) A small coaster vessel, usually sloop-rigged, used in conveying passengers and goods, or as a tender to larger vessels in port.


steeve

(nautical) The angle that a bowsprit makes with the horizon, or with the line of the vessel's keel.


lull

From Middle English lullen, lollen. Originally, perhaps expressive in origin from la-la-la or lu-lu-lu sounds made in calming a child. Compare Finnish laulaa (“to sing”) and Hiligaynon lala (“to sing a lullaby”).
Cognate with Scots lul, lule, loll (“to lull, put to sleep, howl, caterwaul”), Dutch lollen (“to sing badly, caterwaul”), Dutch lullen (“to chatter, prate, cheat, deceive”), Low German lullen (“to lull”), German lullen (“to lull”), Danish lulle (“to lull, sing to sleep”), Swedish lulla (“to lull”), Icelandic lúlla (“to lull”).

onomatopoeic

expressive

cog

[…] during the lull, wind shifted to S. E. […]

1839, The Nautical Magazine and Naval Chronicle for 1839, page 26:

After the lull the wind does not appear to have blown with any great strength […]

1875, W. G. Wilson, Report of the Midnapore and Burdwan Cyclone of the 15th and 16th of October 1874, page 74:

The air under each cloud has spent time near the surface, has been slowed and backed by friction—it is a lull.

2016, David Houghton, Fiona Campbell, Wind Strategy, not paginated:

(nautical) A period without waves or wind.


prow

From Middle French proue, proe, from Ligurian prua, proa, from Latin prōra, from Ancient Greek πρῷρα (prôira).

The floating vessel swum / Uplifted, and secure with beaked prow / rode tilting o'er the waves.

We were already rather close in; but I ordered the U-33's prow turned inshore and we crept slowly along, constantly dipping up the water and tasting it to assure ourselves that we didn't get outside the fresh-water current.

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:


jigger

→ Catalan: gigre

From jig + -er (agent suffix). Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary suggests a possible link to Old High German gīga (“fiddle”).

(nautical) A light tackle, consisting of a double and single block and the fall, used for various purposes, as to increase the purchase on a topsail sheet in hauling it home; the watch tackle.

(nautical, New England) A small fishing vessel, rigged like a yawl.


winger

We hauled out a winger of grog.

(nautical) One of the casks stowed in the wings of a vessel's hold, being smaller than such as are stowed more amidships.


oblique sailing

(nautical) The movement of a ship when she sails upon some rhumb between the four cardinal points, making an oblique angle with the meridian.


cheek

en-noun

cheek (countable and uncountable, plural cheeks)

From Middle English cheeke, cheke, cheoke, choke, from Old English ċēce, ċēace, ċēoce (“cheek; jaw”), from Proto-West Germanic *kākā, *keukā (“jaw, cheek”), from Proto-Germanic *kēkǭ, *keukǭ (“jaw; palate; pharynx”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ǵyewh₁- (“to chew”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Sooke (“cheek”), West Frisian tsjeak (“jaw”), Dutch kaak (“jaw; cheek”), Swedish käke (“jaw; jowl”), Norwegian kjake (“jaw”), Old Norse kók (“mouth; gullet”).

der

One of the pieces of a machine, or of timber or stonework, that form corresponding sides or a similar pair.

(nautical) pump-cheek, pump-cheeks, a piece of wood cut out fork-shaped in which the brake is fastened by means of a bolt and can thus move around and move the upper box of the pump up and down

mik

nautical: a piece of wood cut out fork-shaped in which the brake is fastened


laker

From lake (“body of water”) + -er (“inhabitant”) or + -er (relational suffix).

suffix

(nautical, Canada, US) A ship used on the Great Lakes.


yawl

→ Portuguese: aiola, aiole, iole

Apparently from Low German and Middle Low German jolle, or Dutch jol, possibly ultimately from a Proto-Germanic derivative of Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewlos (“tube”), see also Lithuanian aulas, Norwegian aul, Hittite [script needed] (auli-, “tube-shaped organ in the neck”), Albanian hollë, Latin alvus.

cog

A small ship's boat, usually rowed by four or six oars.

The “Nellie,” a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest.

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 193:

A fore-and-aft rigged sailing vessel with two masts, main and mizzen, the mizzen stepped abaft the rudder post.


skeet

Unknown. Compare Icelandic skeið (“spoon”), from Old Norse skeið (“a sheath”). Attested from the 15th century; see quotation below.

The best method for wetting the after sails is with a garden syringe or small engine[…] For the head sails a skeet made of tough ash, having a good long handle ; the head or skeeting part curves scimitar fashion, to be about three and a half feet in length, and scooped out an inch and a half in width by two and a half inches in depth

1862, Vanderdecken [William Cooper], The Yacht Sailor, page 131:

(nautical) A scoop with a long handle, used to wash the sides of a vessel and formerly to wet the sails or deck.


skeet

en-verb

skeet (third-person singular simple present skeets, present participle skeeting, simple past and past participle skeeted)

skeets (present singular third-person)
skeeting (participle present)
skeeted (participle past)
skeeted (past)

It is a customary rule in all sailing matches that the sails of competing vessels should not be skeeted (i.e. wetted), except when the vessel is on a wind

1870, Henry Coleman Folkard, The Sailing Boat, page 161:

(nautical, dated) To wet the sails or deck of a vessel.


withe

From Middle English withe, withthe, from Old English wiþe, wiþþe (“cord, band, thong, fetter”), from Proto-Germanic *wiþiz, *wiþjǭ (“cord, rope”), from Proto-Indo-European *wéh₁itis (“that which twines”), from *weyt- (“that which winds or bends, branch, switch”), from Proto-Indo-European *wey- (“to turn, wind, bend”). Cognate with Danish vidje (“wicker”), Swedish vidja (“withe, wicker, osier”), Icelandic við, viðja (“a withe”), Latin vītis (“vine”), Russian ветвь (vetvʹ, “branch, bough, limb”). Doublet of vice (“a type of tool, etc.”). The brickwork and chimney architecture senses may have a different etymology, see wythe.

doublet

Some short topgallant masts are rigged with a withe on the after part of the mast-head, through which a sliding-gunter royal-mast is run up, with its heel resting in a step on the topmast cap.

1841, Richard Henry Dana, The Seaman's Friend:

(nautical) An iron attachment on one end of a mast or boom, with a ring, through which another mast or boom is rigged out and secured.


plumb

From Middle English plumbe, plumme, from Old French *plombe, from Latin plumba, plural of plumbum.

(nautical) A weight on the end of a long line, used by sailors to determine the depth of water.


plumb

en-verb

plumb (third-person singular simple present plumbs, present participle plumbing, simple past and past participle plumbed)

plumbs (present singular third-person)
plumbing (participle present)
plumbed (participle past)
plumbed (past)

(nautical) To position vertically above or below.


vail

vail (third-person singular simple present vails, present participle vailing, simple past and past participle vailed)

vails (present singular third-person)
vailing (participle present)
vailed (participle past)
vailed (past)

From Middle English valen; either from Anglo-Norman valer or a clipping of avalen. Compare avale.

Both we will walke vpon the loftie cliffes,
And Chriſtian Merchants that with Ruſſian ſtems
Plow vp huge furrowes in the Caſpian ſea,
Shall vaile to vs, as Lords of al the Lake.

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:

(intransitive, obsolete, nautical) To lower a sail, in salute or otherwise.


barque

From Middle English barke (“boat”), borrowed from Middle French barque, itself borrowed from Italian barca or a Medieval Latin equivalent, from Late Latin barca, from Vulgar Latin barica, from Ancient Greek βᾶρις (bâris) 'Egyptian boat', from Coptic ⲃⲁⲁⲣⲉ (baare, “small boat”), from Demotic br, from Egyptian bꜣjr (“transport ship, type of fish”), b-bA-A-y:r*Z1-P1. Doublet of bark, barge and baris. Possibly cognate with Spanish barco.

der

bricbarca

sailing vessel, all masts but sternmost square-rigged


strop

Same as strap (which see); recorded in English since 1702. The verb sense referring to honing a sharp edge is recorded since 1842.

(nautical) A piece of rope spliced into a circular wreath, and put round a block for hanging it.


bifurcation

en-noun

bifurcation (countable and uncountable, plural bifurcations)

(nautical) The point where a channel divides when proceeding from seaward.


thrum

From Middle English thrum, throm (> Anglo-French trome), from Old English *þrum (found in tungeþrum (“ligament of the tongue”)) from Proto-Germanic *þrumą. Cognate with German Trumm and Old Norse thrǫmr (“edge, brim”).

(nautical, chiefly in the plural) Small pieces of rope yarn used for making mats or mops.

(nautical) A mat made of canvas and tufts of yarn.


thrum

en-verb

thrum (third-person singular simple present thrums, present participle thrumming, simple past and past participle thrummed)

thrums (present singular third-person)
thrumming (participle present)
thrummed (participle past)
thrummed (past)

to thrum a piece of canvas, or a mat, thus making a rough or tufted surface

(nautical) To insert short pieces of rope-yarn or spun yarn in.


belay

belay (third-person singular simple present belays, present participle belaying, simple past and past participle belayed or belaid)

belays (present singular third-person)
belaying (participle present)
belayed (participle past)
belayed (past)
belaid (participle past)
belaid (past)

From Middle English beleggen, bileggen, from Old English beleċġan (“to cover, invest, surround, afflict, attribute to, charge with, accuse”), From Proto-West Germanic *bilaggjan, equivalent to be- (“about, around”) + lay. Cognate with Dutch beleggen (“to cover, overlay, belay”), German belegen (“to cover, occupy, belay”), Swedish belägga (“to pave”).

cog

(transitive, intransitive, nautical) To make (a rope) fast by turning it around a fastening point such as a cleat.

навивам

to make fast by turning around a fastening point

(intransitive, nautical) The general command to stop or cease.


bream

en-verb

bream (third-person singular simple present breams, present participle breaming, simple past and past participle breamed)

breams (present singular third-person)
breaming (participle present)
breamed (participle past)
breamed (past)

Compare broom, and German brennen (as in ein Schiff brennen).

(nautical) To clean (e.g. a ship's bottom of clinging shells, seaweed, etc.) by the application of fire and scraping.


dhow

I suppose I must have slept for seven or eight hours, getting the first real rest that I had had since the night before the loss of the dhow, for when I woke the sun was high in the heavens.

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

Joshua continued preparing breakfast, Bijan returned to piloting the dhow offshore and Pourghasem returned to his watch.[…]Several dhows were on the water and some fishermen were already at work.

2001, David M Besaw, Joshua, Trafford Publishing, page 251:

The navy sometimes hired dhows for its patrols.[…]If a dhow was stopped, the slaves could not be counted on to make their presence known, having probably been told that the Europeans would kill them.

2003, Suzanne Miers, Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem, Rowman & Littlefield (AltaMira), page 78:

They took a dhow from Mombasa bound for Aden and planned to take a larger vessel to Suez and then overland to Cairo.

2011, J. W. Heldring, The Killing of Dr. Albrecht Roscher, Xlibris, page 109:

In contemporary Anglophone usage, the term ‘dhow’ has come to refer generically and exonymically to traditional wooden vessels of the western Indian Ocean, whatever their particular forms or emic classification.

2015, John P. Cooper, Dionisius A. Agius, Tom Collie, Faisal al-Naimi, “Boat and ship engravings at al-Zubārah, Qatar: the dāw exposed?”, in Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, volume 45: Papers from the forty-eighth meeting of the Seminar for Arabian Studies held at the British Museum, London, 25 to 27 July 2014 (2015), →ISSN, pages 35–47:

(nautical) A traditional sailing vessel used along the coasts of Arabia, East Africa, and the Indian Ocean, generally having a single mast and a lateen sail.


cleat

From Middle English clete, from Old English *clēat, clēot, from Proto-Germanic *klautaz (“firm lump”), from Proto-Indo-European *gelewd-, from *gley- (“to glue, stick together, form into a ball”). Cognate with Dutch kloot (“ball; testicle”) and German Kloß. See also clay and clout.

(nautical) A device to quickly affix a line or rope, and from which it is also easy to release.


cleat

cleat (third-person singular simple present cleats, present participle cleating, simple past and past participle cleated)

cleats (present singular third-person)
cleating (participle present)
cleated (participle past)
cleated (past)

Coordinate term: moor

(nautical) To tie off, affix, stopper a line or rope, especially to a cleat.


beacon

From Middle English beken, from Old English bēacn (“sign, signal”), from Proto-West Germanic *baukn, from Proto-Germanic *baukną (compare West Frisian beaken (“buoy”), Dutch baken (“beacon”), Middle Low German bāke (“beacon, sign”), German Bake (“traffic sign”), Middle High German bouchen (“sign”)), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂u-, *bʰeh₂- (“to shine”).

emergency position indicating radio beacon

Henceforth, wherever thou may’st roam, / My blessing, like a line of light, / Is on the waters day and night, / And like a beacon guards thee home.

1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XVII, page 28:

(nautical) A signal, buoy, post, or other conspicuous mark erected on an eminence near the shore, or moored in shoal water, as a guide to mariners, particularly to warn vessels of danger.

مَنَار

signaling or guiding mark erected as guide to mariners


breaker

From Middle English breker, brekere, equivalent to break + -er. Cognate with Dutch breker, German Brecher.

буренце

small cask of water in case of shipwreck


spar

From Middle English sparre (“spar, rafter, beam”) (noun), sparren (“to close, bar”) (verb), from Middle Dutch sparre or Middle Low German Sparre, all ultimately from Proto-Germanic *sparrô (“stake, beam”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)par- (“beam, log”). Compare Dutch spar (“balk”), German Sparren (“rafter, spar”), Danish sparre (“spar”), Albanian shparr, shpardh (“kind of oak”). Perhaps also compare spear.

der

(nautical) Any linear object used as a mast, sprit, yard, boom, pole or gaff.

ранго́ут

nautical: linear object used as a mast, sprit, yard, boom, pole or gaff


breech

en-noun

breech (countable and uncountable, plural breeches)

From Middle English breche, from Old English brēċ, from Proto-Germanic *brōkiz pl, from Proto-Germanic *brōks (“clothing for loins and thighs”). Cognate with Dutch broek, Alemannic German Bruech, Swedish brok. Doublet of vraka.

der

(nautical) The external angle of knee timber, the inside of which is called the throat.


freighter

(nautical) A vessel used mainly to carry freight; a cargo ship.


douse

en-verb

douse (third-person singular simple present douses, present participle dousing, simple past and past participle doused)

douses (present singular third-person)
dousing (participle present)
doused (participle past)
doused (past)

From Middle English duschen, dusshen (“to rush, fall”), related to Norwegian dusa (“to break, cast down from”), Old Dutch doesen (“to beat, strike”), dialectal German tusen, dusen (“to strike, run against, collide”), Saterland Frisian dössen (“to strike”). Compare doss, dust.

cog

Douse the topsail!

(transitive, nautical) To strike or lower in haste; to slacken suddenly

vetäistä alas

strike or lower in haste; slacken suddenly


breach

en-verb

breach (third-person singular simple present breaches, present participle breaching, simple past and past participle breached)

breaches (present singular third-person)
breaching (participle present)
breached (participle past)
breached (past)

From Middle English breche, from Old English bryċe (“fracture, breach”) and brǣċ (“breach, breaking, destruction”), from Proto-West Germanic *bruki, from Proto-Germanic *brukiz (“breach, fissure”) and *brēkō (“breaking”).

inh

On this occasion, the damage was far more serious. The sea wall was breached completely for a distance of over 50 yd., and the gap had to be bridged by a temporary timber viaduct.

1947 January and February, H. A. Vallance, “The Sea Wall at Dawlish”, in Railway Magazine, page 18:

(transitive, nautical, of the sea) To break into a ship or into a coastal defence.


wale

The noun is from Middle English wāle (“planking, welt”), from Old English walu (“ridge, bank; rib, comb (of helmet); metal ridge on top of helmet; weal, mark of a blow”), from Proto-Germanic *waluz (“stick, root”), from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn, wind, roll”). Akin to Low German wāle; Old Norse vala (“knuckle”). The verb is from late Middle English wālen, from the noun.

der

The strakes between the several ranges of ports, beginning from under the upper-deck ports of a three-decked ship in the royal navy, are called the channel wale, the middle wale, and the main wale.

1863, Andrew Murray, Ship-building in Iron and Wood, page 93:

(nautical) A horizontal ridge or ledge on the outside planking of a wooden ship. (See gunwale, chainwale)


brace

From Middle English brace, from Old French brace (“arm”), from Latin bracchia, the nominative and accusative plural of bracchium (“arm”).

(nautical) A rope reeved through a block at the end of a yard, by which the yard is moved horizontally; also, a rudder gudgeon.


brace

en-verb

brace (third-person singular simple present braces, present participle bracing, simple past and past participle braced)

braces (present singular third-person)
bracing (participle present)
braced (participle past)
braced (past)

to brace the yards

(nautical) To swing round the yards of a square rigged ship, using braces, to present a more efficient sail surface to the direction of the wind.


caper

A vessel formerly used by the Dutch; privateer.


caper

From Latin capparis, from Ancient Greek κάππαρις (kápparis).


chute

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

(nautical, slang, by extension) A spinnaker.


galley

en-noun

galley (plural galleys or (obsolete) gallies)

galleys (plural)
gallies (obsolete plural)

From Middle English galeie, from Old French galee, from Latin galea, from Byzantine Greek γάλεα (gálea) of unknown origin, probably from Ancient Greek γαλέη (galéē), a kind of a small fish, from γαλεός (galeós, “dog-fish or small shark”). Doublet of galea.

(nautical, historical) A long, slender ship propelled primarily by oars, whether having masts and sails or not; usually a rowed warship used in the Mediterranean from the 16th century until the modern era.

(nautical) One of the small boats carried by a man-of-war.

kaleeri

nautical: small boat carried by a man-of-war

(nautical) The cookroom or kitchen and cooking apparatus of a vessel or aircraft; sometimes on merchant vessels called the caboose.

камбуз

cooking room or kitchen and cooking apparatus of a vessel or aircraft


corvette

Unadapted borrowing from French corvette.

ubor

(nautical, historical) A flush-decked warship of the 17th-18th centuries having a single tier of guns; it ranked next below a frigate; – called in the United States navy a sloop of war.

(nautical) In a modern navy, a lightly armed and armoured blue water warship, smaller than a frigate, capable of transoceanic duty.

(science fiction, by extension) A starship of comparable role


flake

Compare Icelandic flaki, Icelandic fleki, Danish flage, Dutch vlaak.

(nautical) A small stage hung over a vessel's side, for workmen to stand on while calking, etc.

Flake after flake ran out of the tubs, until we were compelled to hand the end of our line to the second mate to splice his own on to.

1898, Frank T. Bullen, The Cruise of the Cachalot: The Story of a New Bedford Whaler:

(nautical) Alternative form of fake (“turn or coil of cable or hawser”)


cataphract

The adjective is derived from Ancient Greek κατάφρακτος (katáphraktos, “covered, enclosed, shut up; completely suited in armour”), from καταφράσσειν (kataphrássein, “to suit in armour”) (see further at etymology 1) + -τος (-tos, “suffix forming adjectives”).
The noun is derived from Latin cataphractus (“wearing armour, mailed”), from Ancient Greek κατάφρακτος (katáphraktos, “covered, enclosed, shut up; completely suited in armour”); see above.

der

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

And first we must call attention to the fact that two classes of vessels appear to have been employed, distinguished by the name of "Aphract," unfenced, or "Cataphract," fenced, according as the rowers of the upper tier were protected or exposed. Both classes were decked and floored, but the "Aphract" class carried their decks and flooring lower than the "Cataphract," so that in them the rowers of the upper tier were visible above the side of the vessel; [...] [F]rom the time of the invention by the Thasians of this system, all the larger vessels of war used by both Greeks and Romans were Cataphract. In the Cataphract trireme, the space allowed for each oarsman was, according to [B.] Graser, eight square feet per man, and this proportion was observed in the larger vessels up to the octireme.

1876 April 7, Edmond Warre, “Ancient Naval Tactics. Part I.”, in Journal of the Royal United Service Institution, Whitehall Yard, volume XX, number LXXXVIII, London: W. Mitchell and Co., […], published 1877, →OCLC, pages 597–598:

The ancients either called these ships by their class name (a number plus the -eres root) or by a descriptive term "cataphract" (kataphraktos) which means something like "armored" or "fenced" in the sense of having reinforced decks and sides to protect the oarcrew from missiles and deck-fighting. Because "The Age of Titans" involved galleys whose signature feature was their larger than normal size, and because cataphract galleys could comprise small ships that were protected by extra planking, I frequently employ another term to describe these ships, namely, "big" or "large," from the Greek megala skaphe and its variants megalai nees (big ships) and megista skaphe (biggest ships).

2012, William M. Murray, “Introduction: Understanding the Big Ship Phenomenon”, in The Age of Titans: The Rise and Fall of the Great Hellenistic Navies (Onassis Series in Hellenic Culture), Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN:

(nautical, historical) Of a galley such as a trireme: with the upper tier of rowers shielded rather than exposed.


bale

en-verb

bale (third-person singular simple present bales, present participle baling, simple past and past participle baled)

bales (present singular third-person)
baling (participle present)
baled (participle past)
baled (past)

(British, nautical) To remove water from a boat with buckets etc.


deck

From Middle English dekke, borrowed from Middle Dutch dec (“roof, covering”), from Middle Dutch decken, from Old Dutch thecken, from Proto-West Germanic *þakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *þakjaną. Formed the same: German Decke (“covering, blanket”). Doublet of thatch and thack.

rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic

shuffle the chairs on the deck of the Titanic

to swab the deck

Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers,[…]. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.

1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

(nautical) The floorlike covering of the horizontal sections, or compartments, of a ship. Small vessels have only one deck; larger ships have two or three decks.


gauge

en-noun

gauge (countable and uncountable, plural gauges)

From Middle English gauge, gaugen, from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French gauger (compare Modern French jauger from Old French jaugier), from gauge (“gauging rod”), from Frankish *galga (“measuring rod, pole”), from Proto-Germanic *galgô (“pole, stake, cross”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰalgʰ-, *ǵʰalg- (“perch, long switch”). Cognate with Old High German galgo, Old Frisian galga, Old English ġealga (“cross-beam, gallows”), Old Norse galgi (“cross-beam, gallows”), Old Norse gelgja (“pole, perch”). Doublet of gallows.

cog

A vessel has the weather gauge of another when on the windward side of it, and the lee gauge when on the lee side of it.

(nautical) Relative positions of two or more vessels with reference to the wind.

(nautical) The depth to which a vessel sinks in the water.


cape

en-verb

cape (third-person singular simple present capes, present participle caping, simple past and past participle caped)

capes (present singular third-person)
caping (participle present)
caped (participle past)
caped (past)

From French cape, from Old Occitan capa, from Late Latin cappa (“cape”). The second sense ("superhero") is metonymic from the fact that many superheroes wear capes. Likewise, the verb sense "defend, praise" alludes to the stereotypical depiction of superheroes wearing capes when they come to people's defense. (Compare caped crusader.) Doublet of capa and cappa.

The ship capes southwest by south.

(nautical) To head or point; to keep a course.


kedge

...and throw them into the boat, which, as there are no wharves, we usually kept anchored by a small kedge, or keelek, just outside of the surf.

1840, w:Richard Henry Dana Jr., w:Two Years Before the Mast:

The chaps who had gone off in the cutter had been equally spry with their job, bending on a stout hemp hawser through the ring of the kedge anchor, which they dropped some half a cable's length from the brig, bringing back the other end aboard, where it was put round the capstan on the forecastle.

1896, J.C. Hutcheson, Young Tom Bowling:

(nautical) A small anchor used for warping a vessel.


ketch

→ Dutch: kits

From Middle English catche, from cacchen (“to catch”). For the modern form with /ɛ/, compare the pronunciation /kɛtʃ/ of catch.

[…] to finish her new Habit or Appearance, and make her Change compleat, he ordered her Sails to be alter’d; and as she sailed before with a Half-Sprit, like a Yacht, she sailed now with square Sail and Mizen Mast, like a Ketch; so that, in a Word, she was a perfect Cheat […]

1720, Daniel Defoe, Captain Singleton, London: J. Brotherton et al, page 313:

A fore-and-aft rigged sailing vessel with two masts, main and mizzen, the mizzen being stepped forward of the rudder post.


heave

heave (third-person singular simple present heaves, present participle heaving, simple past heaved or hove, past participle heaved or hove or hoven or heft)

heaves (present singular third-person)
heaving (participle present)
heaved (past)
hove (past)
heaved (participle past)
hove (participle past)
hoven (participle past)
heft (participle past)

→ Danish: hive

→ Faroese: hiva

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: hiva

→ Norwegian Bokmål: hive

→ Scanian: hyva

Hallandian: hiva

→ Swedish: hiva

Sudermannian: hyva

.
From Middle English heven, hebben, from Old English hebban, from Proto-West Germanic *habbjan, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to take up, lift”), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂pyéti, from the root *keh₂p-. See also have.
Cognates
Cognate with West Frisian heffe, Dutch heffen ("to raise", "to lift"), German heben ("to raise", "to lift"), Danish hæve ("to raise", "to lift"), Albanian kap (“I grasp, seize”), Old Irish cáin (“law, tribute”), cacht (“prisoner”), Latin capiō (“to take”), Latvian kàmpt (“to seize”), Ancient Greek κάπτω (káptō, “to gulp down”), κώπη (kṓpē, “handle”)).

cog

Heave up the anchor there, boys!

(transitive, nautical) To pull up with a rope or cable.

to heave the ship ahead

Pausing there I waited until the foremost Sagoth hove into sight.

1914 April 4–25, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Sly One”, in At the Earth’s Core, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published 1922, →OCLC, page 209:

(transitive, intransitive, nautical) To move in a certain direction or into a certain position or situation.


heave

(nautical) The measure of extent to which a nautical vessel goes up and down in a short period of time. Compare pitch.


beam

From Middle English beem, from Old English bēam (“tree, cross, gallows, column, pillar, wood, beam, splint, post, stock, rafter, piece of wood”), from Proto-West Germanic *baum, from Proto-Germanic *baumaz (“tree, beam, balk”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew- (“to grow, swell”). Cognate with West Frisian beam (“tree”), Saterland Frisian Boom (“tree”), Dutch boom (“tree”), German Low German Boom (“tree”), German Baum (“tree”), Luxembourgish Bam (“tree”), Albanian bimë (“a plant”). Doublet of boom.
The original English meaning of beam ("tree") is preserved in some compound words such as quickbeam.
The verb is from Middle English bemen, from Old English bēamian (“to shine, to cast forth rays or beams of light”), from the noun.

inh

Capt. King, from Demarara, was invaded by the gale on the evening of the 6th, in lat. 21° 51', and his vessel was thrown on her beam ends. He was forced to cut away her main-mast. Lost a man, who was washed overboard.
. . .
Capt. Mood, on a voyage from Alexandria (Virginia), to St. Mary's (Georgia), was, on the night of the 7th, in the Gulf Stream, to the eastward of Charlston: the wind there was east-north-east, and so hard as to throw his vessel on her beam ends. She lay several hours in this situation. Several of his crew were washed overboard.

1805 Alexander Tilloch. Account of a terrible Hurricane in the West Indies 1804. Philosophical Magazine. Vol. XXI. P. 14

1808 Richard Hall Gower. On the Theory and Practice of Seamanship.
It often happens that by a sudden squall of wind a vessel is thrown over upon her beam ends, without a prospect of recovering her erect while she remains upon the same tack, therefore attempts are made to veer her; but as the rudder lies along the surface of the water it becomes useless, and as the sails are either blown from the yards, or become unmanageable, recourse is had to cutting away the main-mast and mizen-mast, that the ship may veer under the fore-mast:-a most desperate expedient, particularly if the ship is far distant from port!

(nautical) One of the transverse members of a ship's frame on which the decks are laid, and acting as part of the support for keeping the sides of the vessel in shape — supported at the sides by knees in wooden ships and by stringers in steel ones; cf. abeam, beam-ends.

This ship has more beam than that one.

Being only 280 ft. long, with a beam of 66 ft, their speed is moderate, and for a long time difficulty was experienced in steering them.

1892, Sydney Marow Eardley-Wilmot, The Development of Navies During the Last Half-Century, Chapter 7:

(nautical) The maximum width of a vessel (note that a vessel with a beam of 15 foot can also be said to be 15 foot abeam).

As the vessel passes a landmark, the landmark is said to be abeam. Once the vessel has passed the landmark, it falls abaft the beam, then it gradually falls astern.

(nautical) The direction across a vessel, perpendicular to fore-and-aft.

(nautical) The straight part or shank of an anchor.


bail

en-verb

bail (third-person singular simple present bails, present participle bailing, simple past and past participle bailed)

bails (present singular third-person)
bailing (participle present)
bailed (participle past)
bailed (past)

From Middle English baille, from the Old French verb bailler (“to deliver or hand over”) and noun bail (“lease”), from Latin bāiulāre, present active infinitive of bāiulō (“carry or bear”), from baiulus (“porter; steward”) (English: bailiff).

to bail water out of a boat

we had hard work to reach our haven, having to bail out the water with my straw hat.

November 4, 1857, Henry William Harper, letter to St. John

‘Bail out! bail out!’ yelled Job, ‘or we shall founder.’ I seized a large tin bowl with a handle to it, which was fixed under one of the seats, and the three of us bailed away for dear life.

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

(nautical, transitive, intransitive) To remove (water) from a boat by scooping it out.

to bail a boat

By the help of a small bucket and our hats we bailed her out.

1840, Richard Henry Dana Jr., Two Years Before the Mast, Chapter XVIII:

(nautical, transitive) To remove water from (a boat) by scooping it out.


drift

en-noun

drift (countable and uncountable, plural drifts)

From Middle English drift, dryft (“act of driving, drove, shower of rain or snow, impulse”), from Old English *drift (“drift”), from Proto-Germanic *driftiz (“drift”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ- (“to drive, push”). Equivalent to drive + -t; cognate with North Frisian drift (“drift”), Saterland Frisian Drift (“current, flow, stream, drift”), Dutch drift (“drift, passion, urge”), German Drift (“drift”) and Trift (“drove, pasture”), Danish drift (“impulse, instinct”), Swedish drift (“impulse, instinct”), Icelandic drift (“drift, snow-drift”).

cog

The angle which the line of a ship's motion makes with the meridian, in drifting.

дрейф

The distance a vessel is carried off from her desired course by the wind, currents, or other causes.

дрейф

distance to which a vessel is carried off from her desired course by the wind, currents, or other causes

The place in a deep-waisted vessel where the sheer is raised and the rail is cut off, and usually terminated with a scroll, or driftpiece.

kupu

The distance between the two blocks of a tackle.

väkipyörien etäisyys

The difference between the size of a bolt and the hole into which it is driven, or between the circumference of a hoop and that of the mast on which it is to be driven.


leach

From Middle English leche (“leachate; sluggish stream”), from Old English *lǣċ, *lǣċe (“muddy stream”), from Proto-Germanic *lēkijō (“a leak, drain, flow”)
(compare Proto-Germanic *lekaną (“to leak, drain”)), from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to leak”).
Cognate with Old English leċċan (“to water, moisten”), Old English lacu (“stream, pool, pond”). More at leak, lake.

cog

(nautical) Alternative spelling of leech.


pug

Origin unknown, possibly related to West Flemish pugge (“(adjective) small; (noun) short person; pet name derived from the first name Pugge”); though it is uncertain whether sense 1 (“senses relating to someone or something small”) and sense 2 (“senses relating to people”) are derived from the same source.
Sense 1.8 (“small demon”) was probably influenced by, though not a variant of, puck.

pentu

any of various animals, such as a ferret, hare, squirrel, or young salmon

Dares […] [W]ilt thou neuer trauell? / Epi[ton]. Yes in a VVeſterne barge, vvhen vvith a good vvinde and luſtie pugges, one may goe ten miles in tvvo daies.

c. 1588 (date written; published 1591), [John Lyly], Endimion, the Man in the Moone. […], London: […] I[ohn] Charlewood, for the widdowe Broome, →OCLC, Act IV, scene ii, signature G, verso:

[E]uen the Weſterne Pugs receiuing mony here, haue tyed it in a bag at the end of their barge, and ſo trailed it through the Thames, leaſt pleague ſores ſticking vpon ſhillings, […]

1603, [Thomas Dekker], The Wonderfull Yeare. […], London: […] by [J. Browne, Nicholas Ling, and John Smethwick for?] Thomas Creede, […], →OCLC, signature F3, verso:

Puſh^([sic – meaning pish]); your VVeſterne pug [misprinted as png].

c. 1607–1610 (date written), Thomas Middleton; Thomas Dekker, The Roaring Girle. Or Moll Cut-purse. […], London: […] [Nicholas Okes] for Thomas Archer, […], published 1611, →OCLC, [Act IV], signature I3, recto:

Senses relating to people.
(obsolete)
(nautical) A bargeman.

[Ulysses] ty'd his deafen'd Sailors (vvhile he paſs'd / The dreadful Lady's Lodgings) to the Maſt, / And rather venture drovvning, than to vvrong / The Sea-pugs chaſte Ears vvith a bavvdy Song: […]

a. 1681 (date written), Samuel Butler, “Satyr”, in R[obert] Thyer, editor, The Genuine Remains in Verse and Prose of Mr. Samuel Butler, […], volume I, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1759, →OCLC, page 77, lines 143–146:

(nautical) A cabin boy, a shipboy or ship's boy.

Senses relating to people.
A cabin boy, a shipboy or ship's boy.


fleet

From Middle English flete, flet (“fleet”), from Old English flēot (“ship”), likely related to Proto-West Germanic *flotōn, from Proto-Germanic *flutōną (“to float”).

List of collective nouns on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Appendix:Glossary of collective nouns by collective term

Despite the line proving to be a useful strategic route for men and supplies to the British naval fleets stationed at Scapa Flow in both world wars, the Duke's legacy looked to have passed into history when it was listed for closure in the infamous Beeching report.

2021 October 20, Paul Stephen, “Leisure and pleasure on the Far North Line”, in RAIL, number 942, page 48:

(nautical) A number of vessels in company, especially war vessels; also, the collective naval force of a country, etc.

(nautical, British Royal Navy) Any command of vessels exceeding a squadron in size, or a rear admiral's command, composed of five sail-of-the-line, with any number of smaller vessels.


fleet

From Middle English flete, flete (“bay, gulf”), from Old English flēot (“a bay, gulf, an arm of the sea, estuary, the mouth of a river”), from Proto-West Germanic *fleut, from Proto-Germanic *fleutą.
Cognate with Dutch vliet (“stream, river, creek, inlet”), German Fleet (“watercourse, canal”).

cog

(nautical) A location, as on a navigable river, where barges are secured.


fleet

en-verb

fleet (third-person singular simple present fleets, present participle fleeting, simple past and past participle fleeted)

fleets (present singular third-person)
fleeting (participle present)
fleeted (participle past)
fleeted (past)

From Middle English fleten (“float”), from Old English flēotan (“float”), from Proto-West Germanic *fleutan, from Proto-Germanic *fleutaną.

To fleet tackle when pennant block is used, the keeper, with a strap and heaver, racks both parts of hawser together near pennant block, and the tackle is then overhauled and hooked by the men assigned to those duties.

1899, Regulations for the Government of the Life-Saving Service of the United States:

(nautical) To move up a rope, so as to haul to more advantage; especially to draw apart the blocks of a tackle.

We got the long "stick" [...] down and "fleeted" aft, where it was secured.

1898, Frank T. Bullen, The Cruise of the "Cachalot":

(nautical, intransitive, of people) To move or change in position.

(nautical, obsolete) To shift the position of dead-eyes when the shrouds are become too long.


arrest

en-noun

arrest (countable and uncountable, plural arrests)

From Middle English arest (noun) and aresten (verb), from Old French areste (noun) and arester (“to stay, stop”, verb), from Vulgar Latin *arrestō, from Latin ad- (“to”) + restō (“to stop, remain behind, stay back”), from re- (“back”) + stō (“to stand”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”), equivalent to ad- + rest. Compare French arrêter (“to stop”).

der

(nautical) The judicial detention of a ship to secure a financial claim against its operators.


scow

en-verb

scow (third-person singular simple present scows, present participle scowing, simple past and past participle scowed)

scows (present singular third-person)
scowing (participle present)
scowed (participle past)
scowed (past)


reeve

reeve (third-person singular simple present reeves, present participle reeving, simple past and past participle reeved or rove)

reeves (present singular third-person)
reeving (participle present)
reeved (participle past)
reeved (past)
rove (participle past)
rove (past)

Apparent alternative form of reef (“to pull or yank strongly”, verb) or from Dutch reven (“to take in, insert”).

"Let the rope go," he says. With his other hand he reaches down and reeves the two turns from the stanchion.

1930, William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying, Library of America, published 1985, page 98:

(nautical, dialect) To pass (a rope) through a hole or opening, especially so as to fasten it.


foul

en-adj

foul (comparative fouler, superlative foulest)

fouler (comparative)
foulest (superlative)

Inherited from Middle English foul, from Old English fūl (“foul, dirty, unclean, impure, vile, corrupt, rotten, stinking, guilty”), from Proto-West Germanic *fūl, from Proto-Germanic *fūlaz (“foul, rotten”), from Proto-Indo-European *puH- (“to rot”).
Cognate with Dutch vuil (“foul, dirty, filthy, obscene, lewd”), German faul (“foul, rotten, putrid, lazy”), German Low German fuul (“foul, rotten, putrid”), Faroese fúlur (“foul”), Icelandic fúll (“foul, rotten, sullen”), Danish ful (“nasty, ugly”), Norwegian Bokmål ful (“clever, sly”), Norwegian Bokmål ful (“clever, sly”) and Swedish ful (“ugly, dirty, bad”), and through Indo-European, with Albanian fëlliq (“to make dirty”), Latin puter (“rotten”). More at putrid.
Ancient Greek φαῦλος (phaûlos, “bad”) is a false cognate inasmuch as it is not from the same etymon, instead being cognate to few.

cog

We've got a foul anchor.

A rope could get foul while it is being paid out.

(nautical) Entangled and therefore restricting free movement, not clear.


foul

en-verb

foul (third-person singular simple present fouls, present participle fouling, simple past and past participle fouled)

fouls (present singular third-person)
fouling (participle present)
fouled (participle past)
fouled (past)

Inherited from Middle English foulen, fulen, from Old English fūlian (“to become foul; rot; decay”), from Proto-West Germanic *fūlēn, from Proto-Germanic *fūlāną (“to rot; decay”).

der

The kelp has fouled the prop.

The Indian's heart was sore for his boat; it looked as if nothing could save her. She was drifting more slowly now, her propeller fouled in kelp.

1941, Emily Carr, chapter 18, in Klee Wyck:


settee

A vessel with a very long, sharp prow, carrying two or three masts with lateen sails, used in the Mediterranean.


overreach

en-verb

overreach (third-person singular simple present overreaches, present participle overreaching, simple past and past participle overreached or (obsolete) overraught)

overreaches (present singular third-person)
overreaching (participle present)
overreached (participle past)
overreached (past)
overraught (obsolete participle past)
overraught (obsolete past)

/ˌəʊvəˈɹiːt͡ʃ/

/ˌoʊvə(ɹ)ˈɹit͡ʃ/

The verb is from Middle English overrechen (“to rise above; to extend beyond or over; to encroach; to catch, overtake; to reach; to obtain wrongfully (?); to take up (a book) to revise it”) [and other forms], equivalent to over- + reach; the noun is derived from the verb or from the phrase to reach over.

nb...

overreche, overreiche, (Northern England) overreke

أَنَافَ

to reach above or beyond, especially to an excessive degree

Where a sail vessel close hauled and a steam vessel approach so as to involve risk of collision, the rule requiring the sail vessel to keep her course requires her to beat out her tack. [...] She is not required to tack short on signal from the steam vessel when there is danger in so doing, nor need she remain in stays or overreach longer than usual when such measures are not apparently necessary to avoid a collision.

1903, “Ships and Shipping”, in David S. Garland and Lucius P. McGehee, under the supervision of James Cockcroft, editors, The American and English Encyclopædia of Law, 2nd edition, volume XXV, Northport, Long Island, N.Y.: Edward Thompson Company; London: C. D. Cazenove and Son, […], →OCLC, paragraph 5 (Duty of Sail Vessel to Beat Out Her Tack), page 922:

(intransitive, nautical) To sail on one tack farther than is necessary.


yoke

From Middle English yok, yoke, ȝok from Old English ġeoc (“yoke”), from Proto-Germanic *juką (“yoke”), from Proto-Indo-European *yugóm (“yoke”), from *yewg- (“to join; to tie together, yoke”). Doublet of yuga, jugum, yoga and possibly yogh.
Senses 3.1 (“area of arable land”) and 3.2 (“amount of work done with draught animals”) probably referred to the area of land that could generally be ploughed by yoked draught animals within a given time.

poikkipuu

linking or supporting object that resembles a yoke

sauva

device with crosspieces used to control an aircraft

iugum

unit of land area notionally equivalent to the area a team of yoked draft animals can work in a day

A light whale-boat, handsomely painted, and fitted out with stern seats, yoke, tiller-ropes, &c. hung on the starboard quarter, and was used as the gig. […] The bow-man had charge of the boat-hook and painter, and the coxswain of the rudder, yoke, and stern-sheets.

1840, R[ichard] H[enry] D[ana], Jr., chapter XXIII, in Two Years before the Mast. […] (Harper’s Family Library; no. CVI), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], →OCLC, page 237:

Senses relating to a frame around the neck.

Any of various linking or supporting objects that resembles a yoke (sense 1.1); a crosspiece, a curved bar, etc.

(nautical) A fitting placed across the head of the rudder with a line attached at each end by which a boat may be steered; in modern use it is primarily found in sailing canoes and kayaks.


reefer

Her reefer cap was all on one side and on her cheek there was the print of an anchor button she had pressed on while sleeping.

1922, Katherine Mansfield, “Prelude”, in Selected Stories, Oxford, published 2002, page 85:

The mess table, at which the reefers and mates made merry, was fixed in the middle of the berth.

1905, John Masefield, Sea Life in Nelson's Times, page 27:

(nautical) Someone who reefs sails, especially a midshipman.


gather

en-verb

gather (third-person singular simple present gathers, present participle gathering, simple past and past participle gathered)

gathers (present singular third-person)
gathering (participle present)
gathered (participle past)
gathered (past)

From Middle English gaderen, from Old English gaderian (“to gather, assemble”), from Proto-West Germanic *gadurōn (“to bring together, unite, gather”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰedʰ- (“to unite, assemble, keep”).

der

to gather the slack of a rope

To bring parts of a whole closer.
(nautical) To haul in; to take up.

To bring parts of a whole closer.
To haul in; to take up.


cradle

From Middle English cradel, credel, from Old English cradol, from Proto-West Germanic *kradul, from Proto-Germanic *kradulaz, from Proto-Germanic *kradô (“(wicker) basket”). Related to cart.

the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world

The cradle was ill-made. One victim fell into the sea and was lost and the ensuing delay cost three more lives.

(nautical) A basket or apparatus in which, when a line has been made fast to a wrecked ship from the shore, the people are brought off from the wreck.

pelastustuoli

basket or apparatus in which people are brought off from a wreck


fake

From Middle English faken (“to coil a rope”).

(nautical) One of the circles or windings of a cable or hawser, as it lies in a coil; a single turn or coil.


fake

en-verb

fake (third-person singular simple present fakes, present participle faking, simple past and past participle faked)

fakes (present singular third-person)
faking (participle present)
faked (participle past)
faked (past)

(nautical) To coil (a rope, line, or hawser), by winding alternately in opposite directions, in layers usually of zigzag or figure of eight form, to prevent twisting when running out.


superstructure

en-noun

superstructure (countable and uncountable, plural superstructures)

(nautical) Any structure built above the top full deck (FM 55-501).


unlay

en-verb

unlay (third-person singular simple present unlays, present participle unlaying, simple past and past participle unlaid)

unlays (present singular third-person)
unlaying (participle present)
unlaid (participle past)
unlaid (past)

to unlay a rope


splice

Circa 1525, borrowed from Middle Dutch splissen (Modern Dutch splitsen); akin to Middle Dutch splitten (“to split”), German spleißen (“to split, splice”), Spliss (“split ends, hair breakage”), French épisser (also from Dutch). The Dutch word originally referred only to the fraying of the ropes' ends but was then also used for the entire process of fraying and retying; hence the peculiar semantic development from “split” to “join”. The same development occurred in German.

(nautical) A junction or joining of ropes made by splicing them together.


unbend

unbend (third-person singular simple present unbends, present participle unbending, simple past and past participle unbent or (archaic) unbended)

unbends (present singular third-person)
unbending (participle present)
unbent (participle past)
unbent (past)
unbended (archaic participle past)
unbended (archaic past)

From Middle English unbenden, equivalent to un- + bend.

(nautical) To unfasten sails from the spars or stays to which are attached for use.


reef

From Middle English reef, from Old Norse rif, Middle Dutch rif, rēve, and/or Middle Low German ref. Possibly a figurative use of the word for “rib” in etymology 1 above, in which case all forms must, again, be borrowings from Old Norse. Alternatively it may be a different word related to Old English rift (“curtain, veil”), ārāfian (“to uncoil, wind off”).

They sailed as if they were stark mad; they never took in a reef in the sail, and when the seas filled the boat, they sailed her up on the back of a wave till she stood nearly on end, the water rushing out over her stern as out of a spout.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 49:

(nautical) A portion of a sail rolled and tied down to lessen the area exposed in a high wind.

риф

arrangement to reduce the area of a sail


reef

reef (third-person singular simple present reefs, present participle reefing, simple past and past participle reefed)

reefs (present singular third-person)
reefing (participle present)
reefed (participle past)
reefed (past)

"When the day arrived that the boy was to be skipper, the weather was calm and fine, but he called all men to reef sails, so the ship had scarcely any sail on her."

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 188:

1970 July–December, Margaret Quilty, Roller Reefing Made Easy, Boating, page 63,
Be sure the blocks are securely mounted—they carry a fairish load when the sail is reefed.
If both reefing line and main halyard are led to the cockpit, even singlehanded reefing is a breeze.

Mains are made smaller by reefing. This can be done by rolling up the sail around the boom, or by the more traditional method of tying down a panel along the foot.

1995, David Seidman, The Complete Sailor: Learning the Art of Sailing, page 104:

The reefing system for a mainsail must be designed to operate efficiently under adverse conditions and to provide proper sail shape when reefed.

2004, Charlie Wing, How Boat Things Work, page 108:

(nautical) To take in part of a sail in order to adapt the size of the sail to the force of the wind.

Reef the paddles.

(nautical, of paddles) To move the floats of a paddle wheel toward its center so that they will not dip so deeply.


shroud

From Middle English shroud, from Old English sċrūd, from Proto-Germanic *skrūdą. Cognate with Old Norse skrúð (“the shrouds of a ship”) ( > Danish, Norwegian skrud (“splendid attire”)).

cog

Then - a shock of water, a wild rush of boiling foam, and I was clinging for my life to the shroud, ay, swept straight out from it like a flag in a gale.

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

(nautical) One of a set of ropes or cables (rigging) attaching a mast to the sides of a vessel or to another anchor point, serving to support the mast sideways; such rigging collectively.


prize

From Middle English prise, from Old French prise (“a taking, capture, a seizure, a thing seized, a prize, booty, also hold, purchase”), past participle of prendre (“to take, to capture”), from Latin prēndere (“to take, seize”); see prehend. Compare prison, apprise, comprise, enterprise, purprise, reprisal, surprise, etc.

der

Having taken all the Treasure on Board their own Ships, and plundered their Prize of every Thing elſe they either wanted or liked, they let her go; ſhe not being able to continue her Voyage, returned back: […]

1724, Charles Johnson [pseudonym], “Of Captain Avery, and His Crew”, in A General History of the Pyrates, […], 2nd edition, London: Printed for, and sold by T. Warner, […], →OCLC, page 51:

(military, nautical) Anything captured by a belligerent using the rights of war; especially, property captured at sea in virtue of the rights of war, as a vessel.

غَنِيمَة

anything captured using the rights of war