water line

The water line is to that Bend or place she should swim in when she is loaded.

1627, John Smith, chapter 9, in A Sea Grammar, London: John Haviland, page 45:

[…] Jonah throws himself into his berth, and finds the little state-room ceiling almost resting on his forehead. The air is close, and Jonah gasps. Then, in that contracted hole, sunk, too, beneath the ship’s water-line, Jonah feels the heralding presentiment of that stifling hour, when the whale shall hold him in the smallest of his bowels’ wards.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Chapter 9”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

None of us were more than shaken by the blast; we pulled ourselves together, and I laid and fired again. And that went better, for I holed her on the water line and that shell burst inside.

1932, Neville Shute, chapter 15, in Lonely Road, London: Heinemann:

(nautical) Any one of several lines marked upon the outside of a vessel, corresponding with the surface of the water when she is afloat on an even keel. The lowest line indicates the vessel's proper submergence when not loaded, and is called the light water line; the highest, called the load water line, indicates her proper submergence when loaded.


ignition

en-noun

ignition (countable and uncountable, plural ignitions)

mechanical engineering
mechanical engineering

(automotive, mechanical engineering) A system for activating combustion in a combustion engine.

запалване

system for activating combustion in an engine

Put the key in the ignition and turn in right.

(automotive) Receptacle for a key used to start the engine in a vehicle.


indicator

From Late Latin indicātor (“one who points out”), from Latin indicō (“point out”); see indicate.

der

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, automotive) A turn signal; each of the flashing lights on each side of a vehicle which indicate a turn is being made to left or right, or a lane change etc.


interchange

en-verb

interchange (third-person singular simple present interchanges, present participle interchanging, simple past and past participle interchanged)

interchanges (present singular third-person)
interchanging (participle present)
interchanged (participle past)
interchanged (past)

/ɪntɚˈt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒ/

From Old French entrechange, by surface analysis, inter- + change.

But those 13 miles go through central London, and where the Underground interchanges with Crossrail, its own stations will be boosted and glamorised, especially at Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road.

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 274:

The expectation is that about one-third of passengers will choose to interchange at Old Oak, while two-thirds will prefer to travel on to Euston.

2020 March 25, William Barter, “HS2: Euston or Old Oak Common?”, in Rail, page 59:

(transport) To act as or carry out an interchange (noun, senses 2, 3).


interchange

en-noun

interchange (countable and uncountable, plural interchanges)

/ˈɪntɚt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒ/

Holborn tube station is the only interchange between the London Underground Central and Piccadilly Lines.

Moving on again, I catch another GWR Class 802 bound for Oxford via the Cotswold Line. Our first stop is at one of the newest stations on the network - Worcestershire Parkway, which opened on February 23. It's a four-platform (actually three-platform) split-level interchange with the line from Birmingham to Bristol.

2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 67:

(rail transport, countable) A connection between two or more lines, services or modes of transport; a station at which such a connection can be made.

交換

rail transport: connection between two or more lines, services or modes of transport


line up

en-verb

line up (third-person singular simple present lines up, present participle lining up, simple past and past participle lined up)

lines up (present singular third-person)
lining up (participle present)
lined up (participle past)
lined up (past)

(trains) To have switches set so the train is capable of moving along its correct route.


creeper

From Middle English crepere, from Old English crēopere, equivalent to creep + -er. Slang usage derived from phrase give the creeps or creep out (distinct from merely one who creeps).

(nautical) A small four-hooked grapnel used to recover objects dropped onto the sea bed.


lubber

From Middle English, perhaps from Old French lobeor (“swindler”), or of Scandinavian origin, compare dialectal Swedish lubber.

(nautical) An inexperienced or novice sailor; a landlubber.


seat belt

"Wearing a seat belt for drivers and front seat occupants reduces the risk of death by 45 to 50%. Just think about that for a moment. A 50% more chance of staying alive. Who wouldn't go for that?" Michelle Yeoh, Reckless driving has 'immense' human and economic toll, Brussels, Euronews, Jorge Liboreiro, 20/9/2023

(automotive) A restraining belt attached to a vehicle seat and fastened around occupants in order to keep them in place and decelerate them smoothly rather than suddenly in an accident, mitigating the risk of injury from uncontrolled impact with injurious objects.

would you mind putting on your seat belt


Hudson

The water-level route, the whistle and the loud staccato exhaust of this great engine recalled most vividly memories of the New York Central Hudsons highballing along the Hudson River between Harmon and Albany!

1960 October, P. Ransome-Wallis, “Modern motive power of the German Federal Railway: Part Two”, in Trains Illustrated, page 613:

(rail transport, US, Canada) A steam locomotive of the 4-6-4 wheel arrangement.


gunship

(nautical) A ship equipped with heavy artillery.


grounded

en-adj

grounded (comparative more grounded, superlative most grounded)

more grounded (comparative)
most grounded (superlative)

From Middle English grounded, i-grounded, equivalent to ground + -ed.

Courageous went down about an hour ago. Glorious also went down toward the end of the battle, cause unknown. Lion is grounded in the shadows of Terschelling, and will not be recoverable. All of the other battlecruisers have medium to heavy damage of one degree or another, with the exception of Renown, which avoided shell damage but took a torpedo at the last moment and is heading home under tow, and, of course, New Zealand, whose sole casualty is a stoker overcome with heat exhaustion.

2018 October 17, Drachinifel, 27:01 from the start, in Last Ride of the High Seas Fleet - Battle of Texel 1918, archived from the original on 2022-08-04:


depth charge

The trailblazing Oaxacan chef Alejandro Ruiz […] has spiked this black-bean sauce with a hidden depth charge of flavor: patches of foliage from a local avocado tree. The leaves electrify the sauce with an unexpected thrum of black licorice.

2014 October 25, Jeff Gordinier, “In search of the perfect taco”, in T: The New York Times Style Magazine (international edition), page 100:

(military, nautical, aviation) A form of bomb, launched from a ship or dropped from an aircraft, that is designed to detonate at a certain depth underwater for the purposes of attacking a submerged enemy, especially a submarine.

глыбі́нная бо́мба

bomb designed to detonate at a certain depth underwater


depth charge

en-verb

depth charge (third-person singular simple present depth charges, present participle depth charging, simple past and past participle depth charged)

depth charges (present singular third-person)
depth charging (participle present)
depth charged (participle past)
depth charged (past)

After the freighter was torpedoed, its escorting destroyers depth charged the submarine for two hours, but failed to sink it.

(transitive, military, nautical, aviation) To attack (a target, usually a submarine) with depth charges.


fairway

By good fortune, paddle as I pleased, the tide was still sweeping me down; and there lay the Hispaniola right in the fairway, hardly to be missed.

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

Lights of ships moved in the fairway—a great stir of lights going up and going down.

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:

(nautical) A navigable channel in a harbour, offshore etc; the usual course taken by vessels in such places.

талвег

(nautical) a navigable channel in a harbour


grating

(nautical, in the plural) The strong wooden lattice used to cover a hatch, admitting light and air; also, a movable lattice used for the flooring of boats.

kaiwae

a strong wooden lattice used in the flooring of boats


Volga

(automotive) Any of several automobiles of the same brand manufactured by GAZ in the Soviet Union and Russia.


headliner

(automotive) The interior fabric covering the roof of a vehicle.


SB

en-noun

SB (countable and uncountable, plural SBs)

Alternative forms: S.B., S. B.

Coordinate term: (barge) MB

(nautical, maritime) Initialism of sailing barge.

Alternative forms: S.B., S. B.

Coordinate term: (barge) MB

(nautical, maritime) Initialism of steam barge.

Alternative forms: S.B., S. B.

Coordinate term: (boat) MB

(nautical, maritime) Initialism of steamboat.


ARC

(nautical, military) The Colombian Navy (Armada de la República de Colombia).


ARC

(nautical, military, initialism) ship's prefix for warships of the navy of Colombia.


kingpin

→ Cebuano: kingpin

(transport) The axis around which steered wheels pivot; a bolt that holds the axis in place—a kingbolt.

(transport) The pivot or connector between a tractor and trailer in the fifth-wheel coupling of semi-trailer truck.


gasket

Perhaps from Middle French garcette (“gasket”), from Old French garce (“young woman”), feminization of garçon.

(sailing) A length of rope or canvas band used for reefing a sail, or holding a stowed sail in place.


catalytic converter

catalytic converter (plural catalytic converters)

(automotive) A chamber containing a finely divided platinum catalyst in which carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons from vehicle exhaust are oxidized to carbon dioxide.

محول حفزي

chamber in which carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons from vehicle exhaust are oxidized into carbon dioxide


braked

On most aircraft, the mainwheels are braked, but the nosewheel or tailwheel is not.

(mechanical engineering, rail transport, aviation, of a wheel) Equipped with brakes (the vehicle-stopping devices).


cupola

Borrowed from Italian cupola, from Latin cūpula (“little tub”); from Latin cūpa, cuppa (“cup”); named for its resemblance to a cup turned over.

(railways, Canada, dated) a small viewing window in the top of the caboose for looking over the train, or the part of the caboose where one looks through this window.


paunch

From Middle English paunche, from Old Northern French panche, Old French pance (French panse), from Latin pantex.


panto

panto (countable and uncountable, plural pantos)

(countable, rail transport, informal) Clipping of pantograph.


anchorage

anchorage (countable and uncountable, plural anchorages)

/ˈæŋkəɹɪd͡ʒ/

(nautical) A harbor, river, or offshore area that can accommodate a ship at anchor, either for quarantine, queuing, or discharge.

Anchorage is five pounds a night outside the harbour.


Angus

Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic Aonghas, perhaps literally "one choice".

(rail transport) A nickname for the 0-8-8-0 train configuration.


fraught

fraught (usually uncountable, plural fraughts)

From Middle English fraught, fraght, freght (“transport of goods or people (usually by water); charge for such transport; facilities for such transport; cargo or passengers of a ship; ballast of a ship; goods in general; (figurative) burden; charge”), from Middle Dutch vracht, vrecht, or Middle Low German vracht, vrecht (“cargo, freight; charge for transport of goods”), from Proto-Germanic *fra-aihtiz, from *fra- (intensifying prefix) + Proto-Germanic *aihtiz (“acquisition; possessions, property”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyḱ- (“to come into possession of, obtain; to own, possess”)). Doublet of freight.
cognates
* Danish fragt
* Old English ǣht (“livestock; property; possession; power”)
* Old High German frēht (“earnings”) (modern German fracht)
* Swedish frakt

cog

The hire of a boat or ship to transport cargo.

fraught money

Money paid to hire a vessel for this purpose; freight.

The transportation of goods, especially in a boat or ship.

VVell, goe / And bid the Merchants and my men diſpatch / And come aſhore, and ſee the fraught discharg'd.

c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC, Act I, signature B3, recto:

And novv behold after my vvinters toyle, / My paynefull voyage on the boyſtrous ſea, / Of vvarres deuouring gulphes and ſteely rocks, / I bring my fraught vnto the vviſhed port / My Summers hope, my trauels ſvveet reward: […]

1596, [attributed to William Shakespeare; Thomas Kyd], The Raigne of King Edward the Third: […], London: […] [T. Scarlet] for Cuthbert Burby, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], signature G2, recto:

The fraught of this Ship being concluded to be Cedar, by the diligence of the Maſter, and Captaine Smith, ſhe vvas quickly reladed: […]

1624, Iohn Smith, “The Arrivall of the Phœnix; Her Returne; and Other Accidents”, in The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: […] I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn] H[aviland] for Michael Sparkes, →OCLC, book 3; reprinted in The Generall Historie of Virginia, … (Bibliotheca Americana), Cleveland, Oh.: The World Publishing Company, 1966, →OCLC, page 54:

(nautical)
A ship's cargo; freight, lading.


fraught

en-verb

fraught (third-person singular simple present fraughts, present participle fraughting, simple past and past participle fraught or fraughted)

fraughts (present singular third-person)
fraughting (participle present)
fraught (participle past)
fraught (past)
fraughted (participle past)
fraughted (past)
fraught (infinitive)

The verb is derived from Middle English fraughten, fraghten, freghten (“to hire (a ship, etc.) for transporting goods; to load (a ship, etc.) with cargo or passengers; to store, stow away; (figurative) to provide an ample supply of (goods, income, etc.)”), from Middle Dutch vrachten, vrechten, from vracht, vrecht (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming infinitives of verbs).
The adjective is derived from Middle English fraught, fraght (“burdened, loaded”), the past participle of fraughten, fraghten (verb) (see above).

The ſhips are ſafe thou ſaiſt, and richly fraught?

c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC, Act I, signature B2, recto:

[…] I denie that the Proteſtant doth not meddle vvith theſe things, but fraughteth his ſhippe onely vvith faith, and neuer beateth his braine about ſinnes.

1603, Francis Dillingham, “The 15. Reason: Diuinitie”, in A Quartron of Reasons, Composed by Doctor Hill, Unquartered, and Prooued a Quartron of Follies, [Cambridge, Cambridgeshire]: […] Iohn Legat, printer to the Uniuersitie of Cambridge [a]nd are to be sold […] by Simon Waterson, →OCLC, page 68:

Tvvo Marchants departing from Spaine to get gold, touched vpon part of Barbary; vvhere […] the other fraughteth his veſſel vvith ſheep: […]

1625, Peter Heylyn, “Of Peruana”, in Μικρόκοσμος [Mikrókosmos]. A Little Description of the Great World. […], revised edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Iohn Lichfield and William Turner, and are to be sold by W. Turner and T. Huggins, →OCLC, page 801:

(nautical, obsolete) To load (a boat, ship, or other vessel) with cargo.

(Scotland, nautical, obsolete) To hire (a vessel) to transport cargo or passengers.

(Scotland, nautical, obsolete) To transport (cargo or passengers) in a vessel; to freight.


fraught

en-adj

fraught (comparative more fraught or (rare) fraughter, superlative most fraught or (rare) fraughtest)

more fraught (comparative)
fraughter (comparative rare)
most fraught (superlative)
fraughtest (rare superlative)

The ſhippes retyre with riches full yfraught, […]

1576, George Gascoigne, “The Fruites of Warre, Written vppon This Theame, Dulce Bellum Inexpertis, […]”, in The Posies of George Gascoigne Esquire. […], London: […] H[enry] Bynneman for Richard Smith, […], →OCLC, stanza 107, page cxxxvj:

Theſe Shippes were fraught with men and women, and had to theyr Captayne one called Bartholoin or Partholin.

1577, Raphaell Holinshed, “The Historie of Englande”, in The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Harrison, →OCLC, page 28, column 1:

[I]n the narrovv ſeas that part / The French and Engliſh, there miſcarried / A veſſel of our country richly fraught; […]

c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act II, scene viii], signature [D4], verso:

Of all the Paſſions that poſſeſs Mankind, / The Love of Novelty rules moſt the Mind, / In ſearch of this from Realm to Realm vve roam, / Our Fleets come fraught vvith every Folly home.

1756 February 3 (first performance), Samuel Foote, “Prologue, Spoken by Mr. Foote”, in The Englishman Return’d from Paris, Being the Sequel to The Englishman in Paris. A Farce […], London: […] Paul Vaillant, […], published 1756, →OCLC, page [5]:

The peasant without fear shall guide / Down smooth canal or river wide / His painted bark of cane, / Fraught, for some proud bazaar's arcades, / With chestnuts from his native shades, / And wine, and milk, and grain.

1827, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “[Miscellaneous Poems, Inscriptions, etc.] The Marriage of Tirzah and Ahirad.”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC, page 446:

(nautical) Of a boat, ship, or other vessel: laden with cargo.

натоварен

of a boat, ship, or other vessel: laden with cargo


CVT

(automotive) Initialism of continuously variable transmission.


drydock

(nautical) A dock that can be drained of water and is used in the repair and construction of ships.


mainstay

From Middle English main stai, equivalent to main + stay (“rope”).

(nautical) A stabilising rope from high on the mainmast to the base of the foremast.


CBI

(railways) Initialism of Computer-Based Interlocking.


POC

en-noun

POC (countable and uncountable, plural POCs)


CMR

(road transport, international law) The Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road.


LWT

(military, nautical) Abbreviation of lightweight torpedo.


TST

(rail transport) The station code of Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong.


LCS

LCS (countable and uncountable, plural LCSs)

The “rotational deployment” of the vessels, called littoral combat ships (LCS), comes as China continues to flex its muscles in the South China Sea and tensions remain on the Korean Peninsula. / “We will soon see up to four LCS here in Singapore as we rotationally deploy Seventh Fleet ships,” said Rear Admiral Charles Williams.

2015 February 18, “US to base four warships in Singapore as China flexes military muscles”, in The Guardian:

littoral combat ship
littoral combat ship#English

(US, military, nautical, countable) Initialism of littoral combat ship: a specialized type of frigate for green water and coastal combat and transoceanic capability designated by the US Navy.


lobby

→ Armenian: լոբբի (lobbi)

→ Catalan: lobby

→ Danish: lobby

→ Dutch: lobby

→ French: lobby

→ German: Lobby

→ Italian: lobby

→ Japanese: ロビー (robī)

→ Korean: 로비 (robi)

→ Macedonian: лоби (lobi)

→ Polish: lobby

→ Portuguese: lóbi

→ Russian: ло́бби (lóbbi)

Serbo-Croatian:

→ Cyrillic script: лоби

→ Latin script: lobi

→ Slovene: lobi

→ Spanish: lobby

From Old French *lobie, from Medieval Latin lobium, lobia, laubia (“a portico, covered way, gallery”), borrowed from Frankish *laubijā (“arbour, shelter”).
Related to Old English lēaf (“foliage”). More at leaf. Doublet of lodge and loggia.
Political sense derives from the entrance hall of legislatures, where people traditionally tried to influence legislators because it was the most convenient place to meet them.

(nautical) An apartment or passageway in the fore part of an old-fashioned cabin under the quarter-deck.


gudgeon

From Middle English gojoun (“metal fitting with a ring at one end”) [and other forms], from Old French goujon (“dowel; pin”) [and other forms], from gouge (“gouge (tool)”) + -on (suffix forming diminutives). Gouge is derived from Late Latin gulbia, gubia (“chisel”), ultimately from Proto-Celtic *gulbā, *gulbīnos (“beak, bill”).

nb...

godeon, gogeon, goggin, goggyn, gogin, gogion, gogoin, gogon, gogoun, gogoyne, gojon, gojone, gowun, goyon, goyvn, gudyon, gugeoune

This afternoon the gudgeon of the rudder belonging to the large cutter, was drawn out and ſtolen, without being perceived by the man that was ſtationed to take care of her.

1792, William Bligh, chapter VII, in A Voyage to the South Sea, […] in His Majesty’s Ship The Bounty, […], London: […] George Nicol, […], →OCLC, page 83:

(nautical, specifically) In a vessel with a stern-mounted rudder: the fitting into which the pintle of the rudder fits, allowing the rudder to swing freely.


buffer

Agent noun from obsolete verb buff (“make a dull sound when struck”) (mid-16c.), from Old French buffe (“blow”).
The “boatswain's mate” sense is said to be popularly explained by the mate being a “buffer”, that is intermediary, between officers and men, but various other explanations have also been proposed.

bufro

anything used to isolate or to minimise the effects of one thing on another

1885, W. S. Gilbert, The Mikado, Act II, in The Mikado, and Other Plays, New York: Modern Library, 1917, p. 42, https://archive.org/details/mikadootherplays00gilb
The idiot who, in railway carriages, / Scribbles on window panes, / We only suffer / To ride on a buffer / In Parliamentary trains.

The underframe, which has been designed to take buffing loads of 200 tons both on the centre coupler and on the retractable side buffers, consists of two centre girders from which cantilevers project to support the solebars, which in turn carry the bodyside structure.

1951 May, “British Railways Standard Coaches”, in Railway Magazine, page 327:

Then, with a shock like a thousand goods trains crashing into a thousand pairs of buffers, the lips of rock closed.

1953, C. S. Lewis, chapter 14, in The Silver Chair, Collins, published 1998:

Anything used to isolate or minimize the effect of one thing on another.

(rail transport) A device on trains and carriages designed to cushion the impact between them.

Of course, I was not always right. I questioned the value of Crossrail (a scheme revived by Prescott after being scrapped by the Conservatives), suggesting wrongly that it may be "doomed to hit the buffers" […]. A dozen years later, I published my book on it, extolling the line's wonders. We are all allowed to change our minds.

2024 January 10, Christian Wolmar, “A time for change? ... just as it was back in issue 262”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 61:

(rail transport) The metal barrier to help prevent trains from running off the end of the track.

He decided to run for president of the POs' Mess against the Buffer, Chief Bosun's Mate Mal Crane, but the two had a face-to-face in his cabin one night in Narvik and sorted it out.

2001, Mark Higgitt, Through Fire and Water, page 43:

I happen to be on the brow handing my Bosun's Mate duties over to an Ordinary Seaman when the Buffer arrives with an unofficial Side-Party to man the brow with Bosun's Calls at the ready.

2015, Peter Broadbent, A Singapore Fling: An AB's Far-Flung Adventure:

(UK, nautical, slang) The chief boatswain's mate.


scud

en-verb

scud (third-person singular simple present scuds, present participle scudding, simple past and past participle scudded)

scuds (present singular third-person)
scudding (participle present)
scudded (participle past)
scudded (past)

From Middle English scud (“incrustation, scurf, scab, peel, shedding”), perhaps from Old Norse skjóta (“to shoot, push, throw off, shed”).

uder

(transitive, intransitive, nautical) To run, or be driven, before a high wind with no sails set.


dismast

en-verb

dismast (third-person singular simple present dismasts, present participle dismasting, simple past and past participle dismasted)

dismasts (present singular third-person)
dismasting (participle present)
dismasted (participle past)
dismasted (past)

(transitive, nautical) To break off the mast (of a ship), especially by gunfire.


flagship

After Russia’s flagship in the Black Sea, the Moskva, sank last week, the authorities said that the entire crew of more than 500 had been rescued.

2022 April 21, Neil MacFarquhar, Alina Lobzina, “With sunken warship, Russian disinformation faces a test.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(nautical, military) The ship occupied by the fleet's commander (usually an admiral); it denotes this by flying his flag.

(nautical) The ship regarded as most important out of a group, e.g. a nation's navy or company's fleet.


Davy Jones's locker

There has been much speculation about the origin of this term, but none has been substantiated. See more at Davy Jones' Locker on Wikipedia.

"Damn my eyes," says he, "they are gone to Davy Jones's locker."
NOTE: Partridge erroneously refers to this as from the journal of Richard rather than Nicholas Cresswell.

1774, Nicholas Cresswell, The Journal of Nicholas Cresswell, 1774-7:

... are discovered singing a melancholy duet, bewailing the loss of an honest tar, whom they suppose (to use the burthen of the song) "is in Davy Jones's locker."

1781 August, Isaac Kimber, Edward Kimber, “The Summer Theatre”, in The London Magazine, or, Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer, volume 50, page 360:

(nautical, idiomatic) The bottom of the ocean, seen as a grave for sailors and the resting-place of anything that goes overboard and is lost.

Davy Jones' Locker#History
en:Davy Jones's Locker

Davy Jones' locker at the Google Books Ngram Viewer


dugout

The other explained that it had come with a fleet of canoes in charge of an English half-caste clerk Kurtz had with him; that Kurtz had apparently intended to return himself, the station being by that time bare of goods and stores, but after coming three hundred miles, had suddenly decided to go back, which he started to do alone in a small dug-out with four paddlers, leaving the half-caste to continue down the river with the ivory.

1899 March, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MI, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part II, pages 479–480:

(nautical) A canoe made from a hollowed-out log.


breastwork

The Independencia is a two-turreted, breastwork ship of 9,000 tons displacement. […] The central breastwork is 130 feet in length at the top of the belt, and extends to the upper deck, 11 feet above the water-line. This breastwork incloses the boiler and engine hatches, the scuttles to magazines and shell-rooms, the principal openings for ventilation, and the two turrets.

1878, J. W. King, Report of Chief Engineer J. W. King, United States Navy On European Ships of War and Their Armament, Naval Administration and Economy, Marine Constructions and Appliances, Dockyards, etc., etc., Washington, page 287:

(nautical) A railing on the quarter-deck and forecastle.


sternway

The mass of iron fell half in-board upon the now stayed boat, and gave her sternway, with a splintered plank.

1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life, Penguin, published 2009, page 138:

(nautical) Movement towards the stern; backwards motion of a vessel.


colours

(nautical) Flag denoting the nationality of a vessel, flown from the stern.


jurymast

jury + mast. From the early 17th century.

(nautical) A temporary mast constructed when a vessel has been dismasted, usually in heavy weather.


jib boom

(nautical) A spar attached to the outboard end of a bowsprit or flying jib boom with an additional stay to increase sail area.


foremast

(nautical) The mast nearest the bow, on a sailing ship with more than one mast or a non-sailing ship with any masts; the second-tallest mast on a full-rigged ship.


flying jib boom

en-noun

flying jib boom (plural flying jib booms)

(nautical) A jib boom with an additional outboard jib boom attached.


foresail

From fore- + sail. Compare Dutch voorzeil, German Vorsegel, Danish forsejl, Swedish försegel.

(nautical, on a square-rigged ship) The lowest (and usually the largest) square sail hung on the foremast

(nautical) A square fore-and-aft sail set on the foremast, but behind it, on a schooner or other similar vessel.

(nautical, on a sloop) A triangular sail set forward of the foremast: forestaysail.

fok

in a sloop: triangular sail attached to forestay


freeboard

(nautical) The vertical distance between the waterline and the uppermost watertight deck of a vessel.

fribord

nautical - vertical distance from waterline


skeg

From a dialectal term for a stump, branch, or wooden peg; compare Swedish skog. Compare also shaw.

(nautical) A fin-like structure to the rear of the keel of a vessel that supports the rudder and protects a propeller.

(nautical) A similar construction on a boat that acts as a keel.


rowlock

An alteration, based on row, of earlier oarlock, from Old English ārlōc, equivalent to oar + lock.

I took a good gap and a stretch, and was just going to unhitch and start when I heard a sound away over the water. I listened. Pretty soon I made it out. It was that dull kind of a regular sound that comes from oars working in rowlocks when it's a still night.

1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter VII, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC:

Everything smelled salt and there was no noise except the swishing of water and the clop-clop of water against the sides and the splash of the oars and the jolting noise of the rowlocks.

1951, C. S. Lewis, chapter 8, in Prince Caspian, Collins, published 1998:

(nautical, chiefly British) A usually U-shaped pivot attached to the gunwale (outrigger in a sport boat) of a boat that supports and guides an oar, and provides a fulcrum for rowing; an oarlock.


HST

HST (countable and uncountable, plural HSTs)

(UK, rail transport) Initialism of High Speed Train, a common name for the InterCity 125.

(nautical) Initialism of high speed transport.


fid

Coordinate term: marlinspike

(nautical) A pointed tool without any sharp edges, used in weaving or knotwork to tighten and form up weaves or complex knots; used in sailing ships to open the strands of a rope before splicing.

(nautical) A square bar of wood or iron, with a shoulder at one end, to support the weight of the topmast (on a ship).


figurehead

/ˈfɪɡjəɹˌhɛd/

/ˈfɪɡəɹˌhɛd/

(nautical) A carved figure on the prow of a sailing ship.

mascaró de proa

HATCHET. Bring up, I say, or I'll spoil your figurehead. [Lifting his cudgel]

1829, Douglas Jerrold, Black-Eyed Susan; or, All in the Downs:

(nautical, slang, obsolete) A person's face.


lanyard

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

Auckland War Memorial Museum
Imperial War Museum
M777 howitzer
New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Royal Artillery
United States Army

From late Middle English lainer, lainere, lanyer (“strap or thong used to fasten armour”) (with the ending modified in the 17th century under the influence of yard), from Old French laniere, lasniere (“thong, lash”) (see modern French lanière (“lanyard, strap”)).
The English word is cognate with Old High German nestila (“band, headband; strap”) (modern German Nestel (“lace; strap; string”)), Old Norse nesta (“brace; fastener, strap”).

ref

From the collection of the Auckland War Memorial Museum in Auckland, New Zealand.

From the collection of the Imperial War Museum, UK.

cog

"Take ahold here, an' keep ringin' steady," said Dan, passing Harvey the lanyard of a bell that hung just behind the windlass.

1896 November – 1897 May, Rudyard Kipling, chapter III, in “Captains Courageous”, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, published 1897, →OCLC, pages 101–102:

(nautical) A short rope used for fastening rigging, as a handle, etc.

късо въже

short rope used for fastening rigging, etc.


loon

From Middle English louen, lowen (“rascal; rogue”), probably of Middle Dutch or Middle Low German origin. Compare Dutch loen (“simpleton”). Or, related to sense 2, due to the bird's loud cry. Folk etymology associates it slang-wise with lunatic, though the latter may have influenced it; see loony.

(traffic engineering) A round area of pavement that protrudes from one side of a road to accommodate turning vehicles with a wide turning circle.


ADB

(automotive) Initialism of adaptive driving beams.


tin can

As the tin can sailors started telling us what they thought of AKA sailors, which they said were inferior seamen habing to serve aboard an auxiliary vessel instead of a ship of the line;

2000, Donald F. Myers, Your War, My War: A Marine in Vietnam, →ISBN, page 305:


RMS

en-noun

RMS (countable and uncountable, plural RMSes)

(UK, nautical) Initialism of Royal Mail Ship.

(UK, nautical) Initialism of Royal Mail Steamship.

Initialism of Royal Mail Ship.
Initialism of Royal Mail Steamship.


thimble

The noun is derived from Middle English thymbyll, thimel (“thimble”) [and other forms], from Old English þȳmel (“thimble, thumbstall; fingerstall”), then either:
* from Old English þūma (“thumb”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- (“to swell”)) + -el (suffix forming agent nouns and the names of instruments); or
* from Proto-Germanic *þūmilaz (“thumb-covering, thumb-sheath”), from *þūmô (“thumb”) (ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root mentioned above) + *-ilaz (suffix forming agent nouns).
The English word is analysable as thumb + -le (suffix forming agent nouns), and is cognate with Dutch duimeling (“thumbstall”), German Däumling (“thumbstall”), German Low German Dümelke (“thumbstall”), Saterland Frisian Düümelke (“thumbstall”), Scots thummle, thumble (“thimble”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

nb...

themel, themelle, themyl, themylle, thomble, thomelle, thymbyl, thymbyll, thymelle, thymle, thymyl, thymylle, timmele, þymel

cog

To relieve the stern in a measure from the great weight of the [diving-]bell, a short, strong mast was stepped in the usual place, and steeving forward; from its head to the head of the davit was a span, which set up with two thimbles [footnote: A sort of iron ring.] and a lanyard, and the whole was supported by a strong stay from the mast-head to the stern of the boat, and two shrouds on a side, leading forward.

1836, Thomas Dickinson, A Narrative of the Operations for the Recovery of the Public Stores and Treasure Sunk in H.M.S. Thetis, at Cape Frio, on the Coast of Brazil, on the 5th December, 1830. […], London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, →OCLC, page 33:

The rope part is fitted with a thimble in one end, which is connected to the chain by means of a shackle; the other extremity is spliced around a heart, and goes with a laniard, as in the case of bobstays. The splice of the thimble and the heart should be served.

1849, John M‘Leod Murphy, W[illiam] N[icholson] Jeffers, Jun., “Part I. Spars and Rigging.”, in Nautical Routine and Stowage; with Short Rules in Navigation, New York, N.Y.: Henry Spear, […], →OCLC, pages 10–11:

(nautical) A metal ring which a cable or rope intended for attaching to other things is looped around as a protection against chafing.


cofferdam

(nautical) An empty space that acts as a protective barrier between two floors or bulkheads on a ship.


composite

Borrowed from Middle French composite, from Latin compositus, past participle of compōnō (“put together”). Doublet of compost and compote.

The units are made up as either:
[...]
Trailer composite—4 first-class compartments—24 seats; and 3 second-class compartments—24 seats,
[...]
A total of 40 vehicles are to be built, Ten of each type of power car, ten trailer composites, five trailer seconds and five trailer second/buffets.

1963 April, “New Inter-City diesel multiple-units for W.R.”, in Modern Railways, page 266:

(rail transport, UK) A railway carriage with compartments for two different classes of travel; see Composite Corridor.


malum

Related to Arabic مُعَلِّم (muʕallim, “teacher”).

(India, nautical, historical) The mate serving on a ship with English officers and native crew.


Kalamazoo

Kalamazoo Manufacturing Company
Kalamazoo, Michigan

After the Kalamazoo Manufacturing Company.

(rail transport, Australia) A pump trolley.


hawser

From Middle English hauser, haucer, from Anglo-Norman haucer, from Vulgar Latin *altiāre (“to raise”), derived from Latin altus (“high”). Altered in English by mistaken association with hawse and perhaps haul. Compare French aussière, haussière.

The hawser was as taut as a bowstring, and the current so strong she pulled upon her anchor. All around the hull, in the blackness, the rippling current bubbled and chattered like a little mountain stream.

1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Ebb-tide Runs”, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part V (My Sea Adventure), page 185:

A hatchet to my hawser? all adrift to go?

1888–1891, Herman Melville, “[Billy Budd, Foretopman.] Chapter [HTTP://GUTENBERG.NET.AU/EBOOKS06/0608511H.HTML CHAPTER 26].”, in Billy Budd and Other Stories, London: John Lehmann, published 1951, →OCLC:

(nautical) A cable or heavy rope used to tow or moor a ship.


garboard

From Dutch gaarboord, equivalent to gather + board.

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), page 14:

(nautical) The board on a boat which attaches to the keel running fore and aft along the bottom.

kölisarja

the board on a boat which attaches to the keel running fore and aft along the bottom


deadrise

(nautical) The angle between a horizontal line drawn from the keel and the angle of the garboard and its attachment to the keel.

(nautical) A straight rise of bottom or floor extended out from the side of the keel at whatever angle of rise a particular boat design calls for.


balanghai

Shortly, thereafter, the Spaniards saw two balanghais, large outriggers, making for the island. One of the balanghais had an awning covering a platform on which sat an important-looking figure.

1996, E. P. Patanñe, The Philippines in the 6th to 16th Centuries, page 172:

(nautical) A large boat, about 18 meters in length, used by Malay settlers of the Philippines in prehispanic times. Such a vessel would carry a small clan or a large family.


dory

Attested in American English from 1709 C.E.; possibly derived from an indigenous language of the West Indies or Central America, perhaps Miskito.

From every schooner, dories were being dropped into the shining, clear water. The sound of voices and the splashes of oars carried across the sea.

1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous:

He and Gerald usually challenged the rollers in a sponson canoe when Gerald was there for the weekend; or, when Lansing came down, the two took long swims seaward or cruised about in Gerald's dory, clad in their swimming-suits; and Selwyn's youth became renewed in a manner almost ridiculous […]

1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

The dory, and the fisherman who rowed it, are part of the maritime heritage that changed America from a group of shore-bound colonies to a nation with ships that ranged the waters of the world.

1960 February, John Gardner, “The Remarkable Dory: This Boat has Served Sailormen Well, and Many of Today's Able Pleasurecraft are Direct Descendants of the Line”, in Popular Boating, volume 7, number 2, →OCLC, page 90:

It is almost impossible for anyone who loves boats not to rejoice at the sight of a St. Pierre dory. Gaily painted, with lots of sheer and a defiantly jaunty look to them, the dories have been pleasing the eyes of their beholders for nearly a century.

1978 March, Steven H. Rubin, “The St. Pierre Dory: An Endangered Species”, in Boating, volume 43, number 3, →ISSN, page 72:

A dory, by definition, is a flat-bottomed boat with two pointed (or nearly pointed) ends. The traditional dories of the Pacific City fleet were just that. Over the years, however, they have evolved into the square-stern variety seen today.

2008, Jeanna Rosembalm Bottenberg, The Dory Fleet of Pacific City, Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, →ISBN, page 41:

John Wesley Powell […] the one-armed Civil War veteran led nine men in four wooden dories down the untamed and uncharted Colorado River and into the equally untamed and uncharted Grand Canyon.

2013 November 27, John Grotzinger, “The world of Mars [print version: International Herald Tribune Magazine, 2013, page 36]”, in The New York Times:

(nautical) A small flat-bottomed boat with pointed or somewhat pointed ends, used for fishing both offshore and on rivers.


moonraker

From moon + raker.
(someone from Wiltshire): After a story in which some Wiltshire peasants, seeing the reflection of the moon in a shallow pool, tried to rake it out.

(nautical) A small, light sail located high on a mast (above the skysail) and used for speed.


headgear

en-noun

headgear (countable and uncountable, plural headgears)

/ˈhɛdɡɪə(ɹ)/


bhp

brake horsepower
brake horsepower#English

(automotive) Initialism of brake horsepower.


longitudinal

/ˌlɒŋɡɪˈt͡juːdɪnl̥/

/ˌlɔŋɡɪˈt͡ʃʉwdɪnəl/

/lɔŋɡəˈt͡ʃʉːdənəl/

From Middle English longitudinal, from Latin longitūdin-, oblique stem of longitūdō (“length, longitude”). By surface analysis, longitude + -in- + -al.

surf

(rail transport) A railway sleeper lying parallel with the rail.


top-down

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

a top-down ride

(automotive, of a drop top) with the convertible top down


SR

Southern Railway
w:Southern Railway (UK)

(UK, rail transport) Initialism of Southern Railway.


scissors crossover

en-noun

scissors crossover (plural scissors crossovers)

Here the line is joined by the Colne Valley branch, and both tracks are carried into Haverhill station upon a high embankment from which the town can be seen on the south side. The twin tracks, after traversing a scissors crossover, become the down and up roads through the station, which possesses an extensive goods yard.

1951 September, B. D. J. Walsh, “The Sudbury and Haverhill Line, Eastern Region”, in Railway Magazine, page 619:

Included in the new layout are four new scissors crossovers.

1962 October, “Talking of Trains: Liverpool Street layout remodelled”, in Modern Railways, page 222:

(rail transport) A superimposed pair of railway crossovers, resembling the letter X, permitting travel in either direction between a pair of parallel tracks.


hands off

(nautical, historical) cut off a hand: decreed by old admiralty law as punishment for pulling a knife during a fight with a shipmate.


interlocking

In addition to the usual interlocking between conflicting signal and point levers achieved by electric locks, track circuits, when occupied, hold signals governing entry to the relevant line at danger; [...] The up main through inner home signal was held at danger by interlocking, because the track circuits of a conflicting route ahead of it were occupied by another train [...].

1961 March, “Talking of trains: Collision at Waterloo”, in Trains Illustrated, page 138:

(rail transport) An arrangement of signal apparatus that prevents conflicting movements through a set of intersecting tracks, such as junctions or crossings.


every man for himself

Men, you have done your full duty. You can do no more. Abandon your cabin. Now it's every man for himself.

1955, Walter Lord, quoting RMS Titanic Captain Edward Smith, A Night to Remember, page 86:

(nautical) A command, issued in case of shipwreck, that crew members are relieved of all duties and should try to save themselves.

كُلّ رَجُل لِنَفْسِهِ

forget about comradeship; save yourselves!


pooping

(nautical) The act of a wave (or other vessel) striking the stern of a vessel.


pressed

en-adj

pressed (comparative more pressed, superlative most pressed)

more pressed (comparative)
most pressed (superlative)

The most obvious source for tracking pressed men is the muster books of the individual ships, for these encompass those impressed both afloat and ashore. Yet the muster books are notoriously uneven in quality as an historical source.

2008, Nicholas Rogers, The Press Gang: Naval Impressment and its opponents in Georgian Britain, A&C Black, →ISBN, page 4:


peel out

en-verb

peel out (third-person singular simple present peels out, present participle peeling out, simple past and past participle peeled out)

peels out (present singular third-person)
peeling out (participle present)
peeled out (participle past)
peeled out (past)

(idiomatic, US, automotive) To start abruptly from a standing stop, accelerating rapidly, especially so as to produce skid marks.


romper

(nautical) A ship that has moved far ahead of a convoy; see also straggler.


grapple

From Middle English *grapple, *graple, from Old French grappil (“a ship's grapple”) (compare Old French grappin (“hook”)), from Old French grape, grappe, crape (“hook”), of Germanic origin, from Frankish *krappō (“hook”), from Proto-Indo-European *grep- (“hook”), *gremb- (“crooked, uneven”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to turn, bend, twist”). See further at grape. Influenced in some senses by grapple (“seize”, verb) (see above).

derived

A tool with claws or hooks which is used to catch or hold something.

(nautical) A device consisting of iron claws, attached to the end of a rope, used for grasping and holding an enemy ship prior to boarding; a grappling iron.

(nautical) A grapnel (“type of anchor”).


angle of attack

en-noun

angle of attack (plural angles of attack)

(nautical) The angle between a mid-sail and the direction of the wind.

kohtauskulma

angle between mid-sail and the direction of the wind


propeller shaft

propeller shaft (plural propeller shafts)

(automotive) the shaft which connects the gearbox to the differential on the axle of a rear-wheel-drive or four-wheel-drive vehicle.


hotbox

One of the ex-L. & Y.R. "pugs" displaced by diesels at Bank Hall, No. 51232, is going to Preston for employment on the dock lines there, but when en route on December 31 it ran out of water and also sustained a hot box, as a result of which it was detained at Bank Hall.

1961 March, “Motive Power Miscellany”, in Trains Illustrated, page 181:

In particular, hot boxes on freight trains are a persistent problem.

1963 July, “News and Comment: Roller bearings for freight stock”, in Modern Railways, page 6:

Experience with infrared hotbox detector installations has demonstrated the validity of the analysis.

1964, RSC, Railway Signaling and Communications - Volume 57, page 18:

(engineering) An overheated shaft bearing.

(rail transport) An overheated axle box, bearing and bearing enclosure.


CAB

(rail transport) The station code of Causeway Bay in Hong Kong.


MHD

MHD (countable and uncountable, plural MHDs)

(physics, engineering, nautical) Initialism of magnetohydrodynamics.


MHD

(physics, engineering, nautical) Initialism of magnetohydrodynamic.

MHD thruster — magnetohydrodymanic thruster


nutshell

From Middle English notschelle, from Old English hnutsċiell. Equivalent to nut + shell.

[A]t last the fishing-line stood straight out behind, and the stone weights jumped along the tops of the billows, while the seas - notwithstanding the guiding hand of the pilot sought to avoid them - broke over our little nutshell, and sent the spray high above mast and sail.

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

(nautical) A small boat; a boat considered small in comparison to the seas.


second-rate

(UK, military, nautical, historical) Of a Royal Navy ship of the line in the Napoleonic Era: having 80–98 guns across three gun decks, a complement of 700–750, and weighing approximately 2,200 tons burthen.


second-rate

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


ARA

(nautical, military) the Argentine Navy (Armada de la República Argentina)


ARA

(nautical, military, initialism) ship's prefix for warships of the Argentinian navy.


portolan

From French portulan, from Italian portolano.

Portolans are as old as the European mariner's magnetic compass, and for about two centuries the two depended on each other for the growth and safe passage of Mediterranean trade.

2012, Simon Garfield, On the Map, Profile Books, page 110:

(historical, nautical) A chart of European navigable waters based on descriptions of coasts.


loose cannon

(nautical) A cannon that breaks loose from its moorings on a ship during battle or storm, with the potential to cause serious damage to the ship and her crew.


dogs

(nautical) Fasteners securing a watertight hatch.


bucket shop

(travel, dated) A travel agency selling discounted airfares, usually in defiance of existing minimum fare arrangements. Now usually refers to any small cheap agency.


intercostal

(nautical) Hull reinforcing inserted between frames or bulkheads of a boat.


CTC

(rail transport) Initialism of Centralized Traffic Control.


inducement

inducement (countable and uncountable, plural inducements)

(shipping) The act of placing a port on a vessel's itinerary because the volume of cargo offered at that port justifies the cost of routing the vessel.


slue

en-verb

slue (third-person singular simple present slues, present participle sluing or slueing, simple past and past participle slued)

slues (present singular third-person)
sluing (participle present)
slueing (participle present)
slued (participle past)
slued (past)

Unknown. Attested from the late 18th century.

raise the boom[…] then slue it by a slue-rope on its heel, until the square hole in the cap is fair with the tenon

1841, B.J. Totten, Naval Text-Book, page 10:

(transitive, nautical) To rotate something on an axis.


prop wash

en-noun

prop wash (countable and uncountable, plural prop washes)

The plane's large rear doors swallowed up my friend in superfast time, its departure sandblasting everyone in red prop wash as it vaporised down the main street and into the afternoon's dust-bowl sky.

2005, Paul Carter, Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, page 23:

(aviation, nautical) The disturbed mass of air or water pushed aft (or fore when in reverse) by the propeller of an aircraft or propeller-driven watercraft.

We sent the new recruit to obtain a bucket of prop wash.

(aviation, nautical, humorous) In military or other social organizations involving aircraft or boats, a mythical substance supposedly used to wash propellers.


permanent way

permanent (contrasted with the temporary way of a contractor) + way (as in railway)

Holonym: right of way

Meronyms: railbed, railroad track

The term "permanent way" arose to differentiate between the rough track laid by railway contractors for the constructional purposes of new lines, and the final ballasted track upon which the regular service of trains was to run. The former being purely temporary, qualification of "permanent" was applied to the latter.

1941 September, “The Why and the Wherefore: Temporary and Permanent Way”, in Railway Magazine, page 432:

Watt climbed the stone steps and stood before the wicket, looking through its bars. He admired the permanent way, stretching away on either hand, in the moonlight, and the starlight, as far as the eye could reach, as far as Watt's eye could have reached, if it had been inside the station.

1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, published 1959, →OCLC:

No. 320 finally drew into Paris one minute early, having run the 78.3 miles from Longueau in 65½min, inclusive of a permanent way slack and the usual tortoise-like progress from St. Denis.

1961 December, H. G. Ellison, P. G. Barlow, “Journey through France: Part Two”, in Trains Illustrated, page 749:

The paid permanent way staff prepare and refettle the track during the week and at weekends volunteer gangs of some 30/40 people are engaged on relaying — [...].

1979 August, Michael Harris, “A line for all reasons: the North Yorkshire Moors Railway”, in Railway World, page 412:

(rail transport, British, Australia) The track and ballast (bed) of a railway.


roads

Hampton Roads

(nautical, occasionally in the singular) A roadstead.


cat-o'-nine-tails

From cat + of + nine + tails; attested since 1695.

But I do tell you one thing, if you ſhould give ſuch Language at Sea, you'd have a Cat o' Nine-tails laid croſs your Shoulders.

1695, [William] Congreve, Love for Love: A Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act III, scene vii, page 44:

(nautical) A scourge (multi-tail whip) having nine, often knotted, whipcords, formerly used for flogging as naval punishment.


third-rate

(UK, military, nautical, historical) Of a Royal Navy ship of the line in the Napoleonic Era: having 64–80 guns across two gun decks, a complement of 500–650, and weighing approximately 1,750 tons burthen.


third-rate

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


trim tab

(aviation, nautical) A control surface set within or attached to a larger control surface that provides trim to obtain a desired attitude without constant inputs to the primary control surfaces (e.g., ailerons and rudders).


alignment

alignment (countable and uncountable, plural alignments)

From French alignement, by surface analysis, align + -ment.

(transport) The precise route or course taken by a linear way (road, railway, footpath, etc.) between two points.

linjaus

transport: precise route or course of a road etc.


rear admiral

(military, nautical) A naval officer below the rank of vice admiral, originally in charge of a fleet's rear formation.


thruster

From thrust + -er. The surfboard sense was coined (but never trademarked) by Simon Anderson, who created the design in 1980. The name was almost immediately applied generically to any surfboard with that fin design.

(nautical) A bow thruster or a stern thruster.


endurance

endurance (countable and uncountable, plural endurances)

First attested in the late 15th century. From Middle French endurance, from Old French endurance.
Morphologically endure + -ance.

(nautical) The length of time that a ship's rations will supply


cockpit

Czech: kokpit

Dutch: cockpit

French: cockpit

German: Cockpit

Greek: κόκπιτ (kókpit)

Japanese: コックピット (kokkupitto)

Norwegian Bokmål: cockpit

Norwegian Nynorsk: cockpit

Swedish: cockpit

Turkish: kokpit

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

(nautical, now historical) The area set aside for junior officers including the ship's surgeon on a man-of-war, where the wounded were treated; the sickbay.

(nautical) A well, usually near the stern, where the helm is located.


working sail

(nautical) Any of the sails which are used in most kinds of weather: mainsail, foresail, jib and/or mizzen. Sometimes referred to as the lowers.


FOH

(rail transport) The station code of Fortress Hill in Hong Kong.


reaching

From Middle English rechynge, recchinge, from Old English rǣċing (“reaching, extending”), equivalent to reach + -ing.

inh

(nautical) Sailing on a reach, i.e. having the wind on either side and coming from an angle that is larger with respect to the bow than when sailing close-hauled.


whisker pole

(nautical) A removable spar extending from the mast to the jib clew used to control the position and shape of the sail when broad reaching or running.


anchor's aweigh

[1928] 1988, Frederick Pease Harlow, The Making of a Sailor http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0486256138&id=maCNIgbmJMgC&pg=PA106&lpg=PA106&sig=9Fd6uA0SsfwXRKuI4mZqnZokyAU
Then the mate called again to the captain, “Anchor’s aweigh, sir!” while the men kept on heaving.

Amory’s voice came again from the fo’c’sle. ‘Anchor’s aweigh, sir.’

‘Anchor’s apeak — they pawl and back — ’ At this moment the American frigate fired a gun, dropped her topgallantsails, and sheeted them home. ‘Anchor’s aweigh,’ called Broke. ‘He plucked it up in fine style.’

1994, Patrick O'Brian, The Fortune of War:

(nautical) Response to order to weigh anchor when the anchor has been tripped and is no longer attached to the bottom.


weatherly

en-adj

weatherly (comparative more weatherly, superlative most weatherly)

more weatherly (comparative)
most weatherly (superlative)

From weather (“direction from which the wind blows”) + -ly (“characteristic of”).

suf

(nautical, of a sailing vessel) Able to sail close to the wind with little leeway.

sposóbnyj deržátʹsja krúto k vétru, ne drejfúja

спосо́бный держа́ться кру́то к ве́тру, не дрейфу́я


weather shore

(nautical) A shore to weather or windward from a vessel, offering protection from the wind.

suojanpuoleinen ranta

nautical: shore to windward from a vessel


compression

en-noun

compression (countable and uncountable, plural compressions)

Borrowed from Middle French compression, from Latin compressiō.

internal combustion engine
internal combustion engine

(automotive) The cycle of an internal combustion engine during which the fuel and air mixture is compressed.

компресия

the cycle of an internal combustion engine during which the fuel and air mixture is compressed


stocks

(nautical, plural only) The frame upon which a ship is built, and from which it is launched.


number two

number two (countable and uncountable, plural number twos)

number one

especially regarding the defecation sense


glove compartment

glove compartment (plural glove compartments)

Such was my enthusiasm to get there, I probably went faster than was prudent over such a dodgy road, but by the time I arrived the only damage was that the glove compartment had rattled loose.

2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 206:

(automotive) A compartment recessed in an automobile’s dashboard, that usually has a door and can be locked, intended to hold gloves, papers, etc.


glove box

There's a map in the glovebox.

So I went for the shotgun in the Hilux, but could only find one rat-shot shell in the glove box.

2005, Paul Carter, Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, page 25:

(automotive) A small compartment with a door on the dashboard of a car, usually on passenger side, used to store (and sometimes lock) items.


yar

en-adj

yar (comparative yarer, superlative yarest)

yarer (comparative)
yarest (superlative)

From Middle English yar, ȝar, variants of yare, ȝare, from Old English ġearu (“ready”), from Proto-West Germanic *garu, from Proto-Germanic *garwaz.

The wynd was good, the Schip was yare.

1390, J. Gower, Confessio Amantis, II. 237:

1939, The Philadelphia Story written by Philip Barry
My, she was yar...It means, uh...easy to handle, quick to the helm, fast, right. Everything a boat should be, until she develops dry rot.

...to make a ship best weighed, or yarest in her going.

1958, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library:

Arr, here be a fine vessel: the yarest river-going boat there be.

1993 Captain McAllister, The Simpsons ep. 1F06

(nautical, of a vessel, especially sailboat) Quick and agile; easy to hand, reef and steer.


chops

Inflected forms. The jazz slang sense “musical ability” is a reference to the use of the lips to blow instruments.

(nautical) The area where two tides meet and cause an irregular (choppy) sea.


knocking

Sir―I was greatly interested in a short article in The Motor Cycle on the subject of engine knocking.

1914 November 14, The Motor Cycle, London, page 528, column 1:

Knocking can also occur at high speed, but that may go undetected by the driver.

2021 December 12, The Road Ahead, Brisbane, page 56, column 1:

(automotive) A repetitive ping, knock, or similar sound coming from an engine in which there are repeated uncontrolled explosions in the combustion chamber.


dizzy

A service exchange distributor usually needs to be ordered by a motor factor and cost £150-200! I would suggest you use the SD1 dizzy body/cap etc but change the trigger mechanism to a modern electronic/breakerless unit such as the Newtronic unit.

2005, Roger Williams, How to Give Your MGB V8 Power, page 201:

(slang, automotive) A distributor (device in internal combustion engine).


glassy

glassy (comparative glassier, superlative glassiest)

glassier (comparative)
glassiest (superlative)

From Middle English glasy, equivalent to glass + -y. Compare Saterland Frisian glääsich (“glassy”), Dutch glazig (“glassy”), German Low German glasig (“glassy”), German glasig (“glassy”).

a fair day on a glassy sea

Of or like glass, especially in being smooth and somewhat reflective.

(sailing, surfing, of water, not comparable) Lacking any chop; smooth and mostly flat.


yare

yare (comparative yarer, superlative yarest)

From Middle English yare, ȝare, from Old English ġearu (“prepared, ready, prompt, equipped, complete, finished, yare”), from Proto-West Germanic *garu, from Proto-Germanic *garwaz (“ready”).
Cognate with Dutch gaar (“done, well-cooked”), German gar (“done, well-cooked; wholly, at all”), Icelandic görr, gerr (“perfect”).

cog

c. 1587-1612 (undated), Sir Walter Raleigh, letter to Prince Henry
The lesser [ship] will come and go, leave or take, and is yare; whereas the greater is slow.

(nautical, of a ship) Easily manageable and responsive to the helm; yar.


crossover

en-noun

crossover (countable and uncountable, plural crossovers)

The passenger train was signalled from one of the west end bay platforms along the Down South Line; as it passed through a crossover to the Up South Line the freight train, which had been travelling slowly to the Up South Line, over-ran the signal protecting the crossover and came into sidelong collision with it.

1961 February, “Talking of Trains: Collision at Newcastle”, in Trains Illustrated, page 76:

Network Rail developed and delivered the new crossover in just ten months - "phenomenally quickly", Mands says - and the work is included in the £20m build cost.

2023 December 27, Richard Foster, “New rail freight terminal leads the way”, in RAIL, number 999, page 40:

(rail transport) A pair of switches and a short, diagonal length of track which together connect two parallel tracks and allow passage between them.


brail

From Middle English brayle, from Old French braiel, from Medieval Latin bracale (“girdle”) (from bracae (“breeches”)).

(nautical) A small rope used to truss up sails.


tailgate

When they first attached tailgates to cars, we were hooked. By the 1970s, wagons with names like Vista Cruiser and Town & Country sported tailgates as big as dining tables.

2007, Stephen Linn, The Ultimate Tailgater's Racing Guide, →ISBN:

(automotive) A hinged board or hatch at the rear of a vehicle that can be lowered for loading and unloading.


tailgate

en-verb

tailgate (third-person singular simple present tailgates, present participle tailgating, simple past and past participle tailgated)

tailgates (present singular third-person)
tailgating (participle present)
tailgated (participle past)
tailgated (past)

That idiot has been tailgating me for the last five minutes.

She also tailgated them at high speed in her convertible yellow Mercedes.

2002 October 19, Helen Carter, “That's no lady - that's the heiress who taunted neighbours”, in The Guardian:

Last week the UK government announced a crackdown on unsafe driving. From now on, those of us spotted tailgating or lane hogging will face on-the-spot fines of £100 and three penalty points.

2013 August 19, Chris Chambers, “Bad driving: what are we thinking?”, in The Guardian:

(automotive, intransitive, transitive) To drive dangerously close behind another vehicle.


stationmaster

The glare, the flies, while they waited, and he and the stationmaster put their heads together over the time-table, trying to find this other train, which, of course, they wouldn't catch.

1920, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “The Escape”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, page 273:

The stationmaster was an important part of the local community. Anyon Kay, in his reminiscences of Horwich in the early 20th century, remembers a Mr Horsfield as stationmaster - "a gentlemanly character who took his job very seriously".

2023 March 8, Paul Salveson, “Fond farewells to two final trains...”, in RAIL, number 978, page 54:

(rail transport) The person in charge of a railroad station, usually an employee of a particular railroad by which the station is owned, but sometimes an employee of a separate corporation, such as one owning a station used by two or more railroads.

началник гара

the person in charge of a railroad station


indy

From Indianapolis (“location of major car race”).

(motor racing, automotive) A car designed to meet the rules on the Indianapolis 500 car race.

(by extension, motor racing, automotive) An open-wheel open-cockpit single-seat racecar


drogue

Uncertain; probably related to drag in some way.

(nautical) A type of bag pulled behind a boat to stop it from broaching to.

плаваща котва

nautical: type of bag pulled behind a boat


compensator

(nautical) One of several small magnets placed in the binnacle to neutralize the effect of the ship's metal on the compass


halyard

[…]broad-shouldered men with hard red-beaked faces and huge hands coarsened by generations of straining on heavy oars and halyards,—men who feared only God and the sea-spirits of their strange mythology and were a law unto themselves, adventurers and bigots.

1922, John Dos Passos, “A Novelist of Revolution”, in Rosinante to the Road Again, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC:

At last I got my knife and cut the halyards. The peak dropped instantly, a great belly of loose canvas floated broad upon the water […]

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

(nautical) A rope used to raise or lower a sail, flag, spar or yard.


walt

en-adj

walt (comparative more walt, superlative most walt)

more walt (comparative)
most walt (superlative)

From Middle English *walt, from Old English *wealt (attested in unwealt (“not given to roll; steady”), sinwealt (“circular, eternally rolling”)), from Proto-Germanic *waltaz (“changing; unstable”), from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to turn; wind; twist”).


chipped

en-adj

chipped (comparative more chipped, superlative most chipped)

more chipped (comparative)
most chipped (superlative)

engine management system
engine management system

(automotive, not comparable) Having had the engine management system upgraded, usually to increase power.

chippad

having had the engine management system upgraded


malkin

From Malde, an early form of Maude or Matilda + -kin (diminutive ending). Compare grimalkin.

(obsolete, nautical) A mop or sponge attached to a jointed staff for swabbing out a cannon.


limmer

Uncertain; perhaps from limb, or French limier; see leamer.

(nautical) A manrope at the side of a ladder.


loxodromic

From French loxodromique, from Ancient Greek λοξός (loxós, “oblique”) + δρόμος (drómos, “course”).

[…]and who was himself on the early threshold of a decision precisely the opposite in its motives and predispositions, a ship, as it were, straining at its moorings in a contrary current and arming for its sinuous and loxodromic voyage to the richer though silted harbor of Rye[…]

1969 November 10, John Fowles, chapter 59, in The French Lieutenant’s Woman, 1st US edition, Boston, Mass.; Toronto, Ont.: Little, Brown and Company […], →OCLC, page 344:

(nautical) Pertaining to motion at a constant angle to the meridians; on a set compass bearing.


cut out

en-verb

cut out (third-person singular simple present cuts out, present participle cutting out, simple past and past participle cut out)

cuts out (present singular third-person)
cutting out (participle present)
cut out (participle past)
cut out (past)

(nautical) To take a ship out of a harbor etc. by getting between her and the shore.


beat up

beat up (third-person singular simple present beats up, present participle beating up, simple past beat up, past participle beaten up or (US colloquial) beat up)

beats up (present singular third-person)
beating up (participle present)
beat up (past)
beaten up (participle past)
beat up (US colloquial participle past)

(intransitive, nautical) To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.


blind spot

زاوِية مَيِّتة

part of the road/railway track/tramway track that cannot be seen

When he changed lanes, he sideswiped a car that was in his blind spot.

‘Blind Spot Information System (BSIS)’ means a system to inform the driver of a possible collision with a bicycle near side.

UN Regulation No 151 – Uniform provisions concerning the approval of motor vehicles with regard to the Blind Spot Information System for the Detection of Bicycles

As its name suggests, BSW can detect traffic in a vehicle’s side blind spots and alert a driver to its presence. […] Taller and heavier vehicles tend to have larger side and rear blind spots, and generally pose a greater risk to those outside of them when compared to smaller vehicles.

2023 August 24, Keith Barry, “SUV and Truck Buyers May Pay Thousands More for Life-Saving Feature, CR Study Shows” in Consumer Reports

(automotive) In driving, the part of the road that cannot be seen in the rear-view mirror.

When he changed tracks, he sideswiped a railway worker that was in his blind spot.

(rail transport) The part of the railway/tramway track that cannot be seen in the side mirror or the side window.


dredger

(nautical) A vessel equipped for the removal of sand or sediment from the seabed.


through train

(rail transport) a train that travels a long distance without any stops


towboat

(nautical) A squat powerful boat designed to push barges.


supercharger

компресор

(automotive, internal combustion engines) An inlet air compressor for an internal combustion engine (either Otto or Diesel cycle).

(most commonly) Such a compressor which is specifically powered from the crankshaft.

internal combustion engines; most commonly; most commonly


supercharge

supercharge (third-person singular simple present supercharges, present participle supercharging, simple past and past participle supercharged)

supercharges (present singular third-person)
supercharging (participle present)
supercharged (participle past)
supercharged (past)

(automotive) To increase the power of an internal combustion engine (either Otto or Diesel cycle) by compressing the inlet air with power extracted from the crankshaft.

ahtaa

to increase the power of an internal combustion engine


inboard

(nautical) Situated within the hull of a vessel.

The Airbus A380 only has thrust reversers on its inboard engines.

(nautical, aviation) Positioned nearer to the centre line of a vessel.


inboard

Coordinate term: outboard

(nautical) An engine located within the hull of a ship.

Coordinate term: outboard


trafficator

There were vehicles following me, of course, but was any of them trailing me? […] Without any warning, and without signalling with the trafficator, I took a sudden right turn, hoping to shake off my trailer.

2014, Chris Ekpekurede, Laughing Over Serious Matters: Stories to Make You Laugh and Reflect:

(Nigeria, automotive) A blinking light on a motor vehicle that indicates the direction in which it is about to turn.


tramp steamer

(nautical) A commercial steamship that has no regular schedule or published ports of call.


port of call

(nautical) any port (except its home port) being visited by a ship, especially to load or unload cargo or passengers or to take on supplies


traction

en-noun

traction (usually uncountable, plural tractions)

From Medieval Latin tractio, from Latin tractus, perfect passive participle of verb trahere (“pull”), + noun of action suffix -io (genitive -ionis).

(transport) Collectively, the locomotives of a railroad, especially electric locomotives.


DM

DM (countable and uncountable, plural DMs)

(rail transport, in multiple unit formations) driving motor car


twinning

(transport) the conversion of a road into a dual carriageway


husbandry

husbandry (countable and uncountable, plural husbandries)

From Middle English hus-bō̆ndrī, hus-bō̆ndrīe, husbanderi, husbonderie, housbondrye, housebondrie (“household management, housekeeping; household duties; economy, skilful management, thrift; farm management, agriculture, farming; cultivation; household articles; husbands collectively”), from hǒus-bō̆nd, hǒus-bō̆nde (“male spouse, husband; master of a house; male head of a household; man having charge of something, household manager; (figuratively) host, inhabitant, resident; bondsman, villein; farmer, husbandman”) (see further at husband) + -rīe (suffix forming nouns collectively denoting members or practitioners of a craft or profession). The English word can be analysed as husband + -ry.

The underwater ship husbandry discharge is composed of materials discharged during the inspection, maintenance, cleaning, and repair of hulls and hull appendages performed while the vessel is waterborne. Underwater ship husbandry includes activities such as hull cleaning, fiberglass repair, welding, sonar dome repair, propulsor lay-up, non-destructive testing, masker belt repairs, and painting operations.

1999 April, “Phase I Discharge Determinations”, in Technical Development Document for Phase I Uniform National Discharge Standards for Vessels of the Armed Forces (EPA 821-R-99-001), Arlington, Va.: Naval Sea Systems Command, U.S. Department of the Navy; Washington, D.C.: Engineering and Analysis Division, Office of Science and Technology, Office of Water, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, →OCLC, section 5.1.24 (Underwater Ship Husbandry), pages 5-22–5-23:

(now chiefly nautical) Administration or management of day-to-day matters.

οἰκονομία

administration or management of day-to-day matters


forecastle

From Middle English forecastel, forcastel, (whence also Anglo-French forechasteil), equivalent to fore- + castle. Compare Dutch voorkasteel.

(nautical) A raised part of the upper deck at the front of a ship.

бак

nautical: raised part of the upper deck at bow

(nautical) Crew's quarters located at the forward part of a ship.


loxodrome

Back-formation from loxodromic, from Ancient Greek λοξός (loxós, “oblique”) + δρόμος (drómos, “course”) via French.

(mathematics, nautical) A line on a surface (such as the Earth) that cuts all meridians at a constant angle (but not a right angle) – on Earth, the path followed by a ship or aircraft that maintains a constant course by the compass.


implant

From Middle French implanter, from Latin implantō.

(travel) A representative of a travel company, working within the office of a large client and exclusively dealing with that client.


sump

From Middle English sompe, either from Middle Dutch somp, sump or Middle Low German sump from Old Saxon *sump, from Proto-West Germanic *sump, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *sumpaz. Doublet of swamp.

(automotive) The crankcase or oil reservoir of an internal combustion engine.

(nautical) The pit at the lowest point in a circulating or drainage system (FM 55-501).


sails

(nautical, slang) The sailmaker on board ship.


crosspiece

(nautical) A bar or timber connecting two knightheads or two bitts; a timber over the windlass, with pins for belaying the running rigging.


hydrofoil craft

hydrofoil craft (plural hydrofoil craft or hydrofoil crafts)

hydrofoil craft (plural)
hydrofoil crafts (plural)

(nautical) a high-speed ship that supports its weight by means of wings (hydrofoils) beneath the surface of the water


hydrography

hydrography (countable and uncountable, plural hydrographies)

(nautical) The scientific measurement and description of the physical features and conditions of navigable waters and the shoreline.

hidrografie

Measurement and description of navigable waters


offload

en-verb

offload (third-person singular simple present offloads, present participle offloading, simple past and past participle offloaded)

offloads (present singular third-person)
offloading (participle present)
offloaded (participle past)
offloaded (past)

(transitive, aviation, travel) to deny a person on a standby list due to lack of space.

(transitive, aviation, travel) to change a passengers' ticket status from "checked in" to "open", allowing further changes. (This applies regardless of whether the passenger has boarded the aircraft or not).


circumcise

circumcise (third-person singular simple present circumcises, present participle circumcising, simple past and past participle circumcised)

circumcises (present singular third-person)
circumcising (participle present)
circumcised (participle past)
circumcised (past)

From Old French circoncisier, from Latin circumcīdō (“cut around”), from circum (“about, around; through”) + caedō (“cut, hew”).

(military, nautical, slang) To trim off the portion of the barrel liner of a large-caliber naval gun that protrudes from the end of the barrel as a result of the liner slowly stretching from prolonged fire.


lifeline

→ Japanese: ライフライン (raifurain)

(nautical) On the deck of a boat, a line to which one can attach oneself to stay aboard on rough seas.


hydrofoil

(nautical) A wing attached to the hull of a ship that raises it out of the water when travelling at speed and thus reduces drag.

Coordinate term: hovercraft

(nautical) A vessel equipped with such a device.


hydrofoil

hydrofoil (third-person singular simple present hydrofoils, present participle hydrofoiling, simple past and past participle hydrofoiled)

hydrofoils (present singular third-person)
hydrofoiling (participle present)
hydrofoiled (participle past)
hydrofoiled (past)

(nautical, intransitive) To operate or use or ride atop a hydrofoil wing on a hull so equipped.


nacelle

PIE word
 *néh₂us
Borrowed from French nacelle (“rowing boat, skiff; gondola (of a hot-air balloon, etc.); structure on an aircraft to house an engine”), Middle French nacelle (“rowing boat, skiff”), from Old French nacele, from Late Latin naucella, nāvicella (“small boat or ship”), from Latin nāvis (“a ship”) (from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂us (“a boat”)) + -ella (diminutive suffix).
cognates
* Anglo-Norman naucele, naucle (“small boat”)
* Late Latin nacella (“small boat”)

bor

(nautical) The submersed providers of buoyancy of a SWATH-hulled boat.

naselli

(road transport) A streamlined enclosure on the body or dashboard of a motor vehicle.


battlecruiser

Blend of battleship + cruiser, from being a cruiser-like ship with battleship-like capabilities and possibly operating in the battleline.

US Navy hull classification symbol: CC (Only used for the cancelled Lexington-class)

(military, nautical) A fast warship with thicker armor and heavier guns than a typical cruiser, but with armor, armament, or both still inferior to that of a dreadnought battleship; designed to act as an advanced scout of the battle fleet and to destroy enemy cruisers.


lay-by

(nautical) A widened section of a narrow river or canal, formed to one side so as to leave the channel free, for mooring of vessels, where vessels can lay over or allow others to pass.


Dutch oven

Dutch (“substitute, inferior, ersatz”) + oven. See Dutch for more information on the now obsolete sense that the term is derived from.
The cigar sense is said to originate in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

(rail transport) A protective cover for electrical contacts on a railway coupler, particularly but not exclusively used on the London Underground.


flivver

Judge Rummy
Tad Dorgan
The Sun (New York City)

Unknown, early 20th c.; in 1919, cartoonist Tad Dorgan claimed to have created the term in his comic strip "Judge Rummy".

(US, military, nautical, historical, slang, derogatory) A destroyer of the United States Navy with a displacement of less than 1,000 tons.


feedline

(automotive) The tube for gasoline that goes to the engine.


PDI

en-noun

PDI (countable and uncountable, plural PDIs)

petrol direct injection
petrol direct injection#English

(automotive) Initialism of petrol direct injection. (fuel injection)


DTC

diagnostic trouble code
diagnostic trouble code#English

(automotive) Abbreviation of diagnostic trouble code.


frigate

From French frégate, from Italian fregata.

(nautical) Any of several types of warship:

(historical) A sailing warship (of any size) built for speed and maneuverability; typically without raised upperworks, having a flush forecastle and tumblehome sides.

(historical) A sailing warship with a single continuous gun deck, typically used for patrolling and blockading duties, but not considered large enough for the line of battle.

fregatë

type of sailing warship used for patrolling

(historical) A warship combining sail and steam propulsion, typically of ironclad timber construction, supplementing and superseding sailing ships of the line at the beginning of the development of the ironclad battleship.

fregatë

type of warship combining sail and steam

(historical) An escort warship, smaller than a destroyer, introduced in World War 2 as an anti-submarine vessel.

A modern type of warship, equivalent in size or smaller than a destroyer, often focused on anti-submarine warfare, but sometimes general purpose.


carronade

[They] viewed the vessel, which proved to be a very fine fast-sailing craft, well found, with six brass carronades on each side.

1836, Frederick Marryat, Mr. Midshipman Easy:

(nautical, historical) A very short carriage gun used to fire a heavy shot for a limited range.


rigged

en-adj

rigged (comparative more rigged, superlative most rigged)

more rigged (comparative)
most rigged (superlative)

We were ready to embark upon our journey now the vessel was rigged.

(nautical, typically not comparable) Having the rigging up.


chief mate

(nautical) In the merchant navy, the officer who is second in command to the captain, and whose primary duties include managing the maintenance and upkeep of the vessel.


hotshot

Indeed, development proceeded so rapidly thereafter that Mopac, for instance, was rebuilding a series of 10-year-old Woodard 2-8-4's into 4-8-4's by 1940 - not because they couldn't steam but because their 63-inch drivers couldn't roll the hotshots fast enough.

1959, David P. Morgan, editor, Steam's Finest Hour, Kalmbach Publishing Co.:

(US, rail transport) A fast freight train.


quarter nettings

(nautical, obsolete) Hammock nettings along a ship's quarter rails.


quarantine flag

en-noun

quarantine flag (plural quarantine flags)

(nautical) A black and yellow flag (signal flag LIMA) formerly hoisted by a ship to show that it has contagious or infectious disease aboard, or by a ship that has been quarantined. This use was listed in Brown’s 1916 code of signals, but this use is no longer listed in contemporary editions of the International Code of Signals.


head off

en-verb

head off (third-person singular simple present heads off, present participle heading off, simple past and past participle headed off)

heads off (present singular third-person)
heading off (participle present)
headed off (participle past)
headed off (past)


cross junction

(railways) A location where two railroad tracks cross, without switches, as where different roads intersect.


gon

(rail transport) Abbreviation of gondola car.


(automotive) A motor vehicle fuel blend based on close to 100% ethanol used in alcohol fuelled vehicles


coaster

From coast (“edge of the land where it meets an ocean, sea, gulf, bay, or large lake”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns). Coast is derived from Middle English coste (“rib; side of the body, flank; side of a building; face of a solid figure; coast, shore; bay, gulf; sea; concavity, hollow; boundary, limit; land; country; district, province, region; locality, place; division of the heavens; compass direction; direction; location with reference to direction, side”) [and other forms], from Old French coste (“rib; side of an object; coast”) (modern French côte (“rib; coast; hill, slope”)), from Latin costa (“rib; side, wall”), from Proto-Indo-European *kost-.

navegador (de costas)

sailor who travels only in coastal waters

Thus, with ſhort Plummets Heav'ns deep will we ſound, / That vaſt Abyſs where humane Wit is drown'd! / In our ſmall Skiff we muſt not launce too far; / We here but Coaſters, not Diſcov'rers are.

1669 June (first performance), John Dryden, Tyrannick Love, or, The Royal Martyr. […], London: […] H[enry] Herringman, […], published 1670, →OCLC, Act IV, scene i, page 43:

If you question a seaman on the subject, whether mere coaster or circumnavigator, he will tell you that in a snow-storm, because of its constant eddyings and gyrations, frequent trimming of sails is more necessary than in any other gale, and that to steer a straight and steady course under such circumstances is for the time simply impossible.

1881 April, “Snow Storm Gales”, in Symons’s Monthly Meteorological Magazine, volume XVI, number CLXXXIII, London: Edward Stanford, […], →OCLC, page 59:

A sailor (especially the master or pilot of a vessel) who travels only in coastal waters.

His father was skipper of a small coaster, from Bristol, and dying, left him, when quite young, to the care of his mother, by whose exertions he received a common-school education, passing his winters in school and his summers in the coasting trade, until his seventeenth year, when he left home to go upon foreign voyages.

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 245:

The single line to Exmouth Docks curves round the back of the goods yard. […] The docks can handle vessels of up to 700 tons; on the day of my visit an English coaster was discharging coal and a Dutch coaster arrived with a cargo of wood pulp from Sweden.

1960 May, R. C. Riley, “The Coastal Branches of South-East Devon: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 298:

Overhead, the black flag with the white skull-and-crossbones symbolizing defiance of radio regulations fluttered limply atop the two-hundred-foot mast mounted on the converted coaster from which they operated.

1969, John Brunner, chapter IX, in Double, Double, London: Gateway, Hachette, published 2011, →ISBN:

A merchant vessel that stays in coastal waters, especially one that travels between ports of the same country.


gripper

/ˈɡɹɪ.pə(ɹ)/

(rail transport, slang) A ticket collector.


turtleback

(nautical) A convex deck at the bow or stern of a vessel, designed to shed seawater quickly.

(military, nautical) An armor layout with an armored deck which slopes downwards towards the sides of the ship and connects to the lower edge of the main belt armor, designed to deflect shells striking the ship on trajectories close to horizontal.


able seaman

able-bodied seaman
able-bodied seaman#English

(nautical) Synonym of able-bodied seaman.


able-bodied seaman

en-noun

able-bodied seaman (plural able-bodied seamen)

(nautical) A seaman, especially one in the merchant navy, who has been trained or certified in all routine duties; a member of the Royal Navy rated between ordinary seaman and leading seaman or boatswain's mate.

volmatroos

seaman who has been trained in certain skills


seamanship

seamanship (usually uncountable, plural seamanships)

(nautical) Skill in, and knowledge of, the work of navigating, maintaining, and operating a vessel at sea.

zeemanschap

skill and knowledge used in handling a vessel


a.b.

Able-bodied seaman
able-bodied seaman#English


poop deck

From poop (“the stern of a ship”) + deck.

(nautical) A high, exposed deck at the stern of a ship on top of the cabin(s).


pyx

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

The noun is derived from Late Middle English pix, pixe (“vessel for holding a host, pyx; hip bone socket, pyxis”) [and other forms], from Late Latin pyxis (“vessel for holding a host”), Latin pyxis (“small box for medicines or toiletries; box holding sample coins for testing; hip bone socket; sailor's compass”), from Koine Greek πυξίς (puxís), Ancient Greek πῠξῐ́ς (puxís, “box; box or tablet made of boxwood; cylinder”), from πῠ́ξος (púxos, “box tree; boxwood”) + -ῐς (-is, suffix forming feminine nouns). Doublet of box, piseog, and pyxis.
The verb is derived from the noun.

ref

From the collection of the Musée de Cluny in Paris, France.

der

Here I lament I had not the accomodation^([sic]) of the Pyxis, or any Horizontal Plate divided into more points of the Compaſs, though I ſee not that Natural Knowledge requires ſo exact a Pyx as Navigation uſeth; becauſe I boggle at this, that I find the North Cardinal point gives more inſtances than the Weſt.

1686, J[ohn] Goad, chapter XII, in Astro-meteorologica, or, Aphorisms and Large Significant Discourses of the Natures and Influences of the Cœlestial Bodies; […], 2nd edition, London: […] O[badiah] B[lagrave] and sold by John Sprint, […], published 1699, →OCLC, book I, § 56, page 61:

Who travels in religious jars, / (Truth mixt with error, ſhade with rays,) / Like Whiſton wanting pyx or ſtars, / In ocean wide or ſinks or ſtrays.

c. 1710, [Richard] Bentley, “A Reply to a Copy of Verses Made in Imitation of Book III. Ode 2. of Horace. Angustam amice pauperium pati, &c. And Sent by Mr. [Walter] Titley to Dr. Bentley.”, in R[obert] Dodsley, editor, A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. […], volume VI, London: […] J. Hughs, for J[ames] Dodsley, […], published 1765, →OCLC, page 189:

(nautical, obsolete, rare) A compass used by sailors.


blow out of the water

en-verb

blow out of the water (third-person singular simple present blows out of the water, present participle blowing out of the water, simple past blew out of the water, past participle blown out of the water)

blows out of the water (present singular third-person)
blowing out of the water (participle present)
blew out of the water (past)
blown out of the water (participle past)

[…]And if I open fire - again, reading into the fact they've come clearly cleared for action and there is a mutual defense pact in place - well, I might survive a few fractions of a second longer than I would if I pointed my guns straight at them, but I'm still not really gonna be coming out of this intact, so... I'm not suicidal; I'm not gonna actually fulfill any of my mission objectives by getting myself blown out of the water; so, yeah, I - I would be frantically radioing the Kriegsmarine headquarters, saying "please, could I have some new orders, or, if I am going to have to die, can you please confirm that that's the case?"[…]

2020 May 3, Drachinifel, 39:34 from the start, in The Drydock - Episode 092, archived from the original on 2022-10-01:

The somewhat-shattered San Francisco also managed to make it out, although not before she'd come within seconds of being blown out of the water by Helena, as the two had lost contact in the dark and the flagship had loomed back out of the murk with no one and nothing available to answer the light cruiser's challenge - the radio, the whistle, the signal lights, the flags, et cetera, had all been destroyed. Luckily, one of the few surviving signalmen found a small handheld signal light and managed to blink out the ship's hull number.

2021 March 10, Drachinifel, 27:16 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 1 (IJN 3(?) : 2 USN), archived from the original on 2022-11-07:

(nautical) To rapidly destroy (a vessel) with overwhelming weapons fire.


pushknee

The deckhand had to climb the pushknee to get onto the empty barge.

(nautical) A triangular steel structure incorporated into or attached to the bow of a pushboat, allowing the boat to face up to a barge which is higher than the deck of the pushboat.


gimlet

gimlet (third-person singular simple present gimlets, present participle gimleting or gimletting, simple past and past participle gimleted or gimletted)

gimlets (present singular third-person)
gimleting (participle present)
gimletting (participle present)
gimleted (participle past)
gimleted (past)
gimletted (participle past)
gimletted (past)

From Middle English gimlet etc., from Old French guinbelet, guimbelet, guibelet, probably a diminutive of the Anglo-Norman wimble, a variation of guimble (“drill”), from the Middle Low German wiemel; continued in New French as gibelet.
Cocktail either named after the tool, in reference to its penetrating effects, or British Navy surgeon Thomas Gimlette (1857–1943).

(nautical, transitive) To turn round (an anchor) as if turning a gimlet.


topping

From Middle English toppyng; equivalent to top + -ing.

(nautical) The act of raising one extremity of a spar higher than the other.

(nautical) Either of the cables that support the ends of a spar or boom.


lazaretto

en-noun

lazaretto (plural lazarettos or lazarettoes or lazaretti)

lazarettos (plural)
lazarettoes (plural)
lazaretti (plural)

/ˌlæzəˈɹɛtəʊ/

/ˌlæzəˈɹɛtoʊ/

/ˌlæzəˈɹɛti/

/ˌlæzəˈɹɛti/

Jesus
Lazzaretto Vecchio
Venetian Lagoon

Borrowed from Italian lazzareto (archaic), lazzaretto, lazzeretto, from lazzaro (“leper”) + -etto (diminutive or meliorative suffix). Lazzaro is derived from Medieval Latin lazarus (“leper”), from Lazarus, from Ancient Greek Λᾱ́ζᾱρος (Lā́zāros), from Hebrew אֶלְעָזָר ('el'azár, literally “God has helped”), from אֵל ('él, “God; a deity, god”) + עָזַר ('azár, “to assist, help”). Lazarus is a Biblical character mentioned in the parable of Jesus known as “The rich man and Lazarus” who is described as being a beggar covered in sores: see Luke 16:20–21. Doublet of lazar and lazaret.
The plural form lazaretti is borrowed from Italian lazzaretti, lazzeretti.

der

After a large quantity of proviſions had been hoiſted up to get out the powder, the ſmoke was ſtill found to aſcend from below; this circumſtance, […] convinced them that the fire muſt be in the lazaretto below, where ſome purſers beds were now recollected to have been very improperly ſtowed; […] no doubt was entertained that theſe beds had got wet and had taken fire.

1798, George Vancouver, chapter IV, in John Vancouver, editor, A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World; […], volume II, London: […] G. G. and J. Robinson, […]; and J. Edwards, […], →OCLC, page 86:

(by extension, nautical) A place at the front of the tweendecks of a merchant ship where provisions are stored.


nonstop

With business-class seats on nonstops from British Airways and Cathay Pacific often priced up to $8,000 round trip, Mr. Exton typically flew cheaper alternatives that saved money but required layovers and plane switches.

2007 October 14, David Kaufman, “Discounters Are In for the Long Hauls”, in New York Times:

(travel) A nonstop journey, especially a nonstop flight.


fend off

en-verb

fend off (third-person singular simple present fends off, present participle fending off, simple past and past participle fended off)

fends off (present singular third-person)
fending off (participle present)
fended off (participle past)
fended off (past)

(nautical) To prevent (a vessel) from running against anything with too much violence.


head up

head up (third-person singular simple present heads up, present participle heading up, simple past and past participle headed up)

heads up (present singular third-person)
heading up (participle present)
headed up (participle past)
headed up (past)


letter of marque

en-noun

letter of marque (plural letters of marque)

A letter of marque came from the King / to the scummiest vessel I'd ever seen / God damn them all! I was told / We'd cruise the seas for American gold / We'd fire no guns, shed no tears.

1976, Stan Rogers (lyrics and music), “Barrett's Privateers”, in Fogarty's Cove:

(nautical, historical) An official commission from a government authorizing someone to seize the property or people of another nation; especially to attack merchant shipping of another nation.

(nautical, historical) A ship that has been armed for such a task.


aquaplane

en-verb

aquaplane (third-person singular simple present aquaplanes, present participle aquaplaning, simple past and past participle aquaplaned)

aquaplanes (present singular third-person)
aquaplaning (participle present)
aquaplaned (participle past)
aquaplaned (past)

PIE word
 *h₂ékʷeh₂
The noun is derived from aqua- (prefix meaning ‘water’) + plane (“flat or level surface”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat”)).
The verb is derived from the noun, and is analysable as aqua- + plane (“to glide; to soar; to skim a water surface”).

prefix

So much water. They were held up by it, the tyres skating over a film of rain. Aquaplaning. Flying his sister’s fancy car through the wet air. Touching nothing.

2015, Anne Enright, “Shannon Airport”, in The Green Road, New York, N.Y., London: W[illiam] W[arder] Norton & Company, →ISBN, part 2, page 203:

(by extension, chiefly British, automotive) Of a car or other road vehicle: to lose traction with the road due to the vehicle's tyres sliding on a film of water on the road.

olla vesiliirrossa

of a car, etc.: to lose traction with the road due to the vehicle’s tyres sliding on a film of water on the road


repeater

(nautical) A frigate appointed to attend an admiral in a fleet, and to repeat the admiral's signals.

(nautical) A pennant used to indicate that a certain flag in a hoist of signal is duplicated.


scandalize

en-verb

scandalize (third-person singular simple present scandalizes, present participle scandalizing, simple past and past participle scandalized)

scandalizes (present singular third-person)
scandalizing (participle present)
scandalized (participle past)
scandalized (past)

The mainsail was "scandalised" - a nautical mode of describing a sail reefed at both ends[.]

1887, Mrs. Dominic D. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 16:

(nautical) To reduce the area and efficiency of a sail by expedient means (e.g. slacking the peak and tricing up the tack) without properly reefing, thus slowing boat speed.