flangeway

(rail transport, historical) An early type of railway that used flanged rails rather than flanged wheels.

The factors in determining the width of flangeways between check rails and the main rail are the thickness of the wheel flange and the clearance allowed […]

1895, Tables and Diagrams of Switches and Crossings: A Handy Platelayer's Guide, 3rd edition, Bemrose and Sons, Flangeway clearance, page 22:

The use of a high-temperature gas torch for melting the ice out of the check-rail flangeways, was found to be effective, although somewhat tedious; neglect of this precaution may cause derailment, [...].

1941 April, “Notes and News: Railwaymen and Snow”, in Railway Magazine, page 178:

Insure that ample flangeway is available between the open point of switch and the stock rail; this is controlled by flange width of crane wheels using the track system

1980, United States Department of the Army, Maintenance of Trackage, United States Department of Defense, Chapter 3 Track Structure Elements, Section 3–31. Turnouts and Crossovers, Paragraph 3.31.7.4, pages 3–35:

Available at most hobby shops, this tool allows you to check track gauge, flangeway spacing and width, and many other dimensions.

2004, Jeff Wilson, “Track basics”, in Basic Trackwork for Model Railroaders: The Complete Photo Guide, Kalmbach Publishing, →ISBN, NMRA Standards Gauge, page 14:

(rail transport) The gap in road surfaces, running rails at rails at junctions, etc, that allows the wheel flange of a rail vehicle to pass.


dockage

en-noun

dockage (countable and uncountable, plural dockages)


chainplate

(nautical) A plate on the side of a sailing ship to which the shrouds are attached.


stationkeeping

(nautical) The maintenance of a ship's position relative to others in a fleet or convoy.


outhaul

(nautical) A rope that is used to extend a sail along a spar


railbus

railbus (plural railbuses or railbusses)

They were ruled out as over-engineered and too expensive for mass production, and lost out to Class 141 and '142' railbuses, and then Class 150s.

2023 April 5, “£35,000 needed to save a Class 317 and create rebuilt '210' DMU”, in RAIL, number 980, page 8:

(rail transport) A lightweight passenger railway vehicle, similar in appearance to a bus


sailable

en-adj

sailable (comparative more sailable, superlative most sailable)

more sailable (comparative)
most sailable (superlative)


afterdeck

(nautical) The part of a ship's deck from amidships toward the stern


donkeyman

One of the stokers was disabled, the others had given in, the second engineer and the donkey-man were firing-up. The third engineer was standing by the steam-valve. The engines were being tended by hand.

1902 January–March, Joseph Conrad, “Typhoon”, in George R. Halkett, editor, The Pall Mall Magazine, volume XXVI, London: Printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney, →OCLC, chapter IV, page 226, column 2:

(nautical) The person in charge of a ship's engine room.


single ticket

(travel) A ticket entitling the holder to travel in one direction to a destination.


trackman

Drones and helicopters have been in common use by Network Rail for some time, and are a far cry from the days when all inspections were carried out by trackmen reaching remote sites on foot.

2021 November 17, “Network News: Drone success could slash NR track inspection costs”, in RAIL, number 944, page 24:

(US, rail transport) A railway employee who inspects and maintains the permanent way of a railway installation.


platelayer

Instead, the Ministry of Transport (MoT) investigation concluded that the gang were reliant upon hearing the approach of trains - "a common practice among platelayers", Assistant Inspecting Officer JPS Main concluded.

2021 September 22, Dr Mike Esbester, “Trackside safety: a permanent problem”, in RAIL, number 940, page 79:

(rail transport) A railway employee who inspects and maintains the permanent way of a railway installation.


multilink

Its fully independent suspension, with struts and coil springs up front and a multilink rear setup, loves to caress the road.

2007 May 27, Jerry Garrett, “Altima Coupe: Fewer Doors, More Drama”, in New York Times:

(automotive) Being or pertaining to a kind of vehicle suspension using three or more lateral arms and one or more longitudinal arms.


clock-face timetable

en-noun

clock-face timetable (plural clock-face timetables)

The new clock-face timetable means services to Cardiff now depart at 10 and 40 minutes past the hour.

He agreed to the system of working to a clock-face timetable, although there was difficulty in fitting it in with the arrival or departure of trains.

1956, Bus & Coach, Liffe & Sons., page 174:

5. Reliability — quality of service/regular clock-face timetabe/staff training as elements of service elasticity.

2005, Stuart Cole, “Market Demand”, in Applied Transport Economics: Policy, Management and Decision Making, 3rd edition, Part 1: Transport Markey Dynamics, Kogan Page, →ISBN, Case Study 1: Urban Bus Operations, page 16:

When leaving Wales, there is virtually, a clock-face timetable along the South Wales Main Line, with trains for London running every hour from Swansea and every half-hour from Cardiff and Newport[…]

2008 or 2009, South East Wales Transport Alliance, “Welsh Affairs Committee: Evidence”, in House of Commons: Welsh Affairs Committee, editor, Cross-border Provision of Public Services for Wales: Transport, Tenth Report of Session 2008-09, The Stationery Office, published 2009, →ISBN, Memorandum submitted by the South East Wales Transport Alliance, page Ev 213:

(transport) A service pattern where services depart at regular intervals, and thus at the same number of minutes past each hour.


longliner

(nautical) A fisherman or fishing boat that uses longlines.


cunningham

Named after its inventor, Briggs Cunningham.

(nautical) A downhaul located at the tack of a sail, used for tightening the luff.


rambade

From French rambade, rambate. Compare with Italian rambata and Spanish arrumbada.

(nautical) The raised platform above the main artillery in the bow of the type of galley used from the 15th to the 19th century, used as a fighting platform and command post.


paper ticket

(travel, aviation) A conventional airline ticket, consisting of a coupon for each flight together with other administration coupons.


lap belt

(chiefly automotive) A seat belt that passes over the hips and does not itself provide restraint to the upper body (although it may be part of a larger system another component of which does provide upper-body restraint).


OBO

(nautical) Initialism of ore-bulk-oil: designating a ship designed to be capable of carrying wet or dry cargoes.


rule of the road

(nautical) A regulation concerning safe handling of vessels on seaways.

meriteiden sääntö

nautical: regulation concerning safe handling of vessels


reem

en-verb

reem (third-person singular simple present reems, present participle reeming, simple past and past participle reemed)

reems (present singular third-person)
reeming (participle present)
reemed (participle past)
reemed (past)

(transitive, nautical) To open (the seams of a vessel's planking) for the purpose of calking them.


shake out

shake out (third-person singular simple present shakes out, present participle shaking out, simple past shook out, past participle shaken out)

shakes out (present singular third-person)
shaking out (participle present)
shook out (past)
shaken out (participle past)

"Thunder!" he cried. "A week! I can't do that; they'd have the black spot on me by then. The lubbers is going about to get the wind of me this blessed moment; lubbers as couldn't keep what they got, and want to nail what is another's. Is that seamanly behavior, now, I want to know? But I'm a saving soul. I never wasted good money of mine, nor lost it neither; and I'll trick 'em again. I'm not afraid on 'em. I'll shake out another reef, matey, and daddle 'em again."

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

(nautical, transitive) To unfurl a reef from a sail


cratch

From Middle English cratche, cracche, crecche (“crib”), from Old French creche (“crib, manger”), from Frankish *krippjā, *kribbjā (“crib”), from Proto-Germanic *kribjǭ. More at creche, crib.

The fore-end of the cargo space terminates in a triangular board, called the cratch, raised to the same height as the cabin roof and connected to it […]

1966, Gervis Frere-Cook, The decorative arts of the mariner:

(nautical) The vertical planks at the forward end of the hold of a traditional English narrowboat which constrain the cargo and support the top plank or walkway.


conrod

(automotive) Abbreviation of connecting rod.


Pixie

(informal, aviation, travel) Air Niugini


AWT

Armathwaite railway station
w:Armathwaite railway station

(transport, UK) Abbreviation of Armathwaite railway station.


untravellable

By encreasing the hollowness of a wide carriage road, much beyond the utility of form, the margins might no doubt be brought into a travellable state; whereas, of a flat road, in a wet season, every part, from side to side becomes equally untravellable.

1793, William Marshall, Rural Economy of the Midland Counties, Dublin, page 43:

Greece however is in a very untravellable state just now.

1848, Edward Lear, Letters of Edward Lear, published 2008, →ISBN, page 8:

[I]n this parish—without rectory, without school, without rector, with a pauper population, and untravellable roads—your petitioner spent upwards of seven months.

1855, “Petition Extraordinary”, in Charles Dickens, editor, Household Words, volume 11:

(of a political region, geographical terrain, road, etc.) Unsuitable for or hostile to travel; incapable of being journeyed over or upon.


OTA

en-noun

OTA (countable and uncountable, plural OTAs)

(travel, aviation) Initialism of online travel agency/agent.


topman

There, when not actually engaged on the yards yet higher aloft, the topmen, who as such had been picked out for youth and activity, constituted an aerial club lounging at ease against the smaller stun'sails rolled up into cushions, spinning yarns like the lazy gods, and frequently amused with what was going on in the busy world of the decks below.

1924, Herman Melville, chapter 8, in Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co.:

(nautical) The man stationed in the top on a sailing vessel, responsible for the setting of the sails


sheetsman

(nautical) someone who controls the trim of the sails.


jackstay

(nautical) A stay (rope, bar or batten), running along a ship's yard, to which is attached the head of a square sail.

(nautical) A cable between two ships or from a ship to a fixed point which can be used to support a load during transfer of personnel or materiel along the cable.

(nautical) A line (rope, webbing or cable), attached to a boat at the ends, to which a safety harness can be clipped to restrain falling in rough conditions and to prevent falling overboard.

elämänlanka

nautical: line etc. to which a safety harness can be clipped


pocket battleship

pocket battleship (plural pocket battleships)

(nautical) Any of a class of German cruisers, having guns normally found on a battleship, operated during World War II; a battlecruiser.


gun-brig

(nautical) A small two-masted vessel during the Age of Sail, typically carrying 12 guns, comprising two long guns in the chase position and ten carronades on the broadsides.


low cost carrier

low cost carrier (plural low cost carriers)

(aviation, travel) An airline that sells very inexpensive tickets but which does not provide (or charges for) typical services like meals or the carriage of baggage.

格安航空会社

かくやすこうくうがいしゃ


PSM

PSM (countable and uncountable, plural PSMs)

(electromechanics, electronics, automotive) Initialism of permanent-magnet synchronous motor.


looard

So my great-uncle, who were bosin, made an observation, and says he, 'There's just ten days' provision for seven men, and we're twenty days to looard of Silly Bes (Celebes), if we only row ten miles a day.

1877, Charles W. Hall, Adrift in the Ice-Fields:

"Keep away, boy--keep to looard.

1884, Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Complete:

I heard the starboard steward Singing abaft the poop; He lewdly sang to looard And sleep fled from the sloop.


deadweight ton

(nautical) A long ton (2,2240 pounds), as used to measure of a ship's carrying capacity, including bunker oil, fresh water, ballast water, crew, and provisions.


ahull

[…] for four dayes and nights, not daring to beare any ſaile, but lay ahull […]

1638, Sir Thomas Herbert, Some years travels into divers parts of Asia and Afrique:

(nautical) Having the sails furled and the helm lashed alee, as during a storm.


GVWR

gross vehicle weight rating
gross vehicle weight rating#English

(automotive) Abbreviation of gross vehicle weight rating. - Maximum allowed weight of a vehicle and its contents.


GCWR

(automotive) Initialism of gross combination weight rating: the maximum weight rating of a vehicle including its contents and the weight of anything being towed.


VSS

(automotive engineering) vehicle speed sensor


methyl t-butyl ether

(chemistry, automotive) C₅H₁₂O ; an organic compound used to increase octane ratings of gasoline, through added oxygen


methyl tertiary butyl ether

methyl tertiary butyl ether (uncountable)

methyl tert-butyl ether
methyl tert-butyl ether

(organic chemistry, automotive) methyl tert-butyl ether


methyl tert-butyl ether

(organic chemistry, automotive) C₅H₁₂O ; an organic compound used to increase octane numbers of gasoline, through added oxygen, as an anti-knock additive


methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (uncountable)

(organic chemistry, automotive) (CH₃C₅H₄)Mn(CO)₃ ; an octane number boosting additive to unleaded gasoline to replace tetra-ethyl lead as an anti-knock component


MMT

MMT (countable and uncountable, plural MMTs)

(organic chemistry, automotive) Abbreviation of methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl: an octane number boosting additive to unleaded gasoline to replace TEL as an anti-knock component


ekranoplane

(aviation, nautical) Alternative spelling of ekranoplan


WIG

(aviation, nautical) Initialism of wing-in-ground.


WISE

(aviation, nautical) Acronym of wing-in-surface effect.


ekranoplan

Borrowed from Russian экранопла́н (ekranoplán), itself derived from экра́н (ekrán, “screen”) as used in экранный эффе́кт (ekrannyj effékt, “ground effect”), from French écran, + the root of French planer (“to glide, to hover”).

ground-effect vehicle
ground-effect vehicle

(aviation, nautical) a ground-effect vehicle


beneaped

en-adj

beneaped (comparative more beneaped, superlative most beneaped)

more beneaped (comparative)
most beneaped (superlative)


wave off

en-verb

wave off (third-person singular simple present waves off, present participle waving off, simple past and past participle waved off)

waves off (present singular third-person)
waving off (participle present)
waved off (participle past)
waved off (past)

(aviation, nautical, military) Of an aircraft carrier landing signal officer, to signal a pilot to go around.


RDML

rear admiral (lower half)
rear admiral (lower half)#English

(US, military, nautical) Abbreviation of rear admiral (lower half).


RADM

(military, nautical) Abbreviation of rear admiral.

rear admiral (upper half)
rear admiral (upper half)#English

(US, military, nautical) Abbreviation of rear admiral (upper half).


DLR

Docklands Light Railway
w:Docklands Light Railway

(rail transport, UK) Initialism of Docklands Light Railway.


HMIS

(nautical, military) Initialism of His Majesty's Indian Ship.

(nautical, military) Initialism of Her Majesty's Indian Ship.


radio shack

(slang, nautical) A room for hosting radio equipment.


plating carrier

en-noun

plating carrier (plural plating carriers)

From the plates, shaped like a credit card with a raised airline name, formerly used when paper tickets were issued.

(aviation, travel industry) The airline that a ticket has been issued on behalf of.


TMD

TMD (countable and uncountable, plural TMDs)

traction maintenance depot
w:traction maintenance depot

(rail transport, UK) Initialism of traction maintenance depot.


(nautical) A muzzleloading gun capable of firing shells weighing sixty-four pounds


fore and aft

(nautical) From the bow of a ship to the stern; lengthwise.


shipping company

shipping company (plural shipping companies)

Steamship arrivals, however, are less predictable and the best arrangements of shipping companies and the railway operating department may be upset by weather and tide.

1962 April, J. N. Faulkner, “Summer Saturday at Waterloo”, in Modern Railways, page 264:

(business, shipping) A company whose main line of business is ownership and operation of ships.


dwell time

dwell time (usually uncountable, plural dwell times)

The length of time that a thing or person remains in a given state.

(shipping) The amount of time a container is sitting onshore before being loaded onto trucks.

Due to overcrowding, the train network is experiencing very long dwell times.

(transport) The duration of a stop made by a train, tram or other transport vehicle to allow passengers to board or alight.


(UK, rail transport) Initialism of High Speed 1, a high-speed railway between London and the Channel Tunnel.


CHW

(rail transport) The station code of Chai Wan in Hong Kong.


RON

research octane number
research octane number#English

(automotive) Abbreviation of research octane number.


LAK

(rail transport) The station code of Lai King in Hong Kong.


BRT

bus rapid transit
bus rapid transit#English

(transport) Initialism of bus rapid transit.


bus rapid transit

bus rapid transit (countable and uncountable, plural bus rapid transits)

(transport) A form of rapid transit using buses, which have dedicated rights-of-way or laneways, purpose-built bus stations, and dedicated traffic signalling.


reluctor

(automotive) A toothed ring or wheel that rotates past a variable reluctance sensor.


antipirate

The Rasulids kept the southern coast under loose control up to Dhofar, even holding Hadramawt to some extent and maintaining an antipirate squadron.

(nautical, military) Opposing or countering pirates.


wolfpack

(historical, nautical, military) During World War II, any of various marauding groups of submarines, especially German submarines that patrolled the North Atlantic and preyed upon merchant ships.


2+1 road

(transport) A three-lane road with two lanes in one direction and one lane in the other.


turn-by-turn navigation

(electronics, computing, automotive) A feature of GPS devices, particularly smartphones, that continuously gives directions as the person or vehicle approaches navigation points.


accelerated depreciation

(automotive, Canada) The lost value a vehicle carries after it has been repaired from an accident.


HPC

high power charging
high power charging#English

(electricity, automotive) Initialism of high power charging.


OOD

OOD (countable and uncountable, plural OODs)

(countable, nautical) Initialism of Officer of the Deck.


blackstrap

blackstrap (usually uncountable, plural blackstraps)

From black + strap? Possible connection with Dutch stroop (“syrup”).

(obsolete, nautical, slang) Bad port wine; any common wine of the Mediterranean.


forehold

From fore- (prefix meaning ‘positioned at or near the front’) + hold (“the cargo area of an aircraft or ship”). Hold is a variant of hole (influenced by hold (verb)), from Middle English hole, hol (“perforation, hole; cave, cavern; hiding place, shelter; cell, compartment”), from Old English hol (“hole (in the ground)”), from Proto-West Germanic *hol (“hollow”), from Proto-Germanic *hulą (“depression, hollow; hole”), from Proto-Germanic *hulaz (“hollow”); further etymology uncertain, possibly either from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover; to conceal, hide”) or *ḱewh₁- (“to be strong; to swell”).

inh

It freezes very hard, and we find it extreamly cold. The next Day, the ſame Weather, we went aboard, and ſcuttled for Flower in the Forehold. The 25th, little Wind at N.E. and froſty Weather, went aboard again, and got out of the Forehold eight Barrels of Flower, one Cask of Peaſe, with ſome Brandy and Wine.

1743, John Bulkeley, John Cummins, A Voyage to the South-Seas, in the Years 1740–1. Containing, a Faithful Narrative of the Loss of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager on a Desolate Island in the Latitude 47 South, Longitude 81:40 West: […], London: […] Jacob Robinson, […], →OCLC, page 24:

At nine in the evening, the Rippon, which ſtill remained aground, ran her larboard guns over the ſtarboard ſide, ſtarted thirty tun of water in the forehold, to lighten her forward, and employed all her boats in endeavouring to tow off: […]

1761, John Barrow, “Containing the Naval Transactions in the Year 1759”, in The Naval History of Great Britain; with the Lives of the Most Illustrious Admirals and Commanders, Deduced from the Earliest Establishment of the British Marine. […], volume IV, London: […] T. Lownds, […]; T. Caslon, […]; and W. Bristow, […], →OCLC, page 366:

Captain [John] Gore therefore ſent the carpenters of the Reſolution to aſſiſt our own in repairing her [the Discovery]; and accordingly, the forehold being cleared, to lighten her forward, they were ſet to work to rip the damaged ſheathing from the larboard bow.

1784, James King, chapter V, in A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean. Undertaken, by the Command of His Majesty, for Making Discoveries in the Northern Hemisphere. […], volume III, London: […] W[illiam] and A. Strahan; for G[eorge] Nicol, […]; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, book VI (Transactions during the Second Expedition to the North, by the Way of Kamtschatka; […]), page 287:

Extract of a Letter from an Officer belonging to the Major East-Indiaman, dated Calcutta, April 30 1784. […] The ſhip had been extremely infeſted with a kind of beetle called Cockroaches, which eat through every thing; and it was found neceſſary to fumigate the holds and decks, previous to her receiving the cargo on board, in order to deſtroy theſe vermin. In performing this buſineſs, by ſome accident, the fore hold of the ſhip caught fire.

1784 April 30, “Advices from the East Indies”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine: and Historical Chronicle, volume LIV, part II, number 5, London: […] John Nichols, for D[avid] Henry, […]; and sold by E[lizabeth] Newbery, […], published November 1784, →OCLC, page 866, column 1:

The salt provision rooms are on either side of the forehold amidships.

1847 November 6, “The Blenheim, Steam Guardship”, in The Patent Journal, and Inventors’ Magazine, volume III, number 76, London: […] Patent Journal Office, […]; sold by Curry, jun., and Co., [et al.], →OCLC, page 566, column 2:

I knew there was no other bulkhead in the ship but the collision bulkhead separating the forepeak from the forehold.

1899 September – 1900 July, Joseph Conrad, chapter IV, in Lord Jim: A Tale, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1900, →OCLC, page 29:

If a total retarding force of 5,000 tons (which at least would be required by a 30,000 ton ship) is required, the aggregate area of the brakes must be 10,000 sq. ft., to accommodate which would very naturally reduce the capacity of the forehold.

1904 June 9, “Latest in Engineering. [A New Marine Brake.]”, in Percival Marshall, editor, The Model Engineer and Electrician. A Journal of Practical Mechanics and Electricity, volume X, number 163, London: Percival Marshall & Co., […], →OCLC, page 534, column 2:

Quite a number of people recently gathered at the Wellington Wharf to watch the patent acetone process of cutting, with a flame forced out of a jet at terrific pressure, some steel beams and a bulkhead on a ship, the Arapawa, where it was desired to convert two foreholds into one.

1911 November 24, Henry D. Baker, “New Zealand Trade Notes. [Cutting Steel with a Flame.]”, in Daily Consular and Trade Reports, volume 4, number 276, Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Manufactures, Department of Commerce and Labor, →OCLC, page 984:

Everything about the steamers was filthy and neglected except the engines, which were in reasonably good order. The foreholds were crammed with ammunition, dhurra, wool and fuel, […]

1965, Julian Symons, “The Steamers Arrive: The Delay”, in England’s Pride: The Story of the Gordon Relief Expedition, Looe, Cornwall: House of Stratus, published 2001, →ISBN, part 3 (The Fighting), pages 218–219:

The forehold was a store for sails, warps and other gear and its floor covered a dank space known as the dill room where imperishable stores were stowed.

2002, John Leather, “The Ketch”, in The Gaff Rig Handbook: History, Design, Techniques, Developments, 2nd edition, London: Adlard Coles Nautical, published 2012, →ISBN, page 168:

The third mate tried to retrieve the weapon from the two islanders who seized it, but when he saw a native approaching with a spear, he ran forward, barely escaping a spade thrown from the opposite side of the deck. He saw an open hatch and leapt for it, landing on the lower deck of the forehold.

2004, Wilson [Lumpkin] Heflin, “Enchanted Isles”, in Mary K. Bercaw Edwards, Thomas Farel Heffernan, editors, Herman Melville’s Whaling Years, Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University Press, →ISBN, page 93:

(nautical) The forward or front part of the hold of a ship.


O/O

(nautical) ore/oil ; designating that a ship can carry both ore and oil


VLCC

very large crude carrier
very large crude carrier#English

(nautical) Abbreviation of very large crude carrier. (the second largest category of crude carrier or oil tanker)


BIBO

(nautical) Initialism of bulk in/bags out: a type of bulk carrier that takes in bulk cargo and is equipped to bag it, to provide bagged cargo for disembarkment.


ULOC

(nautical) Abbreviation of ultralarge ore carrier.


ULCC

ultra large crude carrier
ultra large crude carrier#English

(nautical) Abbreviation of ultra large crude carrier. (the largest category of crude carrier or oil tanker)


VLOC

very large ore carrier
very large ore carrier#English

(nautical) Abbreviation of very large ore carrier. (a type of ore carrier, a kind of bulk carrier, used to carry ore in bulk form)

very large ore carrier

(aviation, travel) Abbreviation of vendor locator.


very large crude carrier

en-noun

very large crude carrier (plural very large crude carriers)

(nautical) a type of supertanker, the second largest class of crude carrier or oil tanker, having a capacity of 160,000–320,000 DWT


ultra large crude carrier

ultra large crude carrier (plural ultra large crude carriers)

(nautical) a type of supertanker, the largest class of crude carrier or oil tanker, having a capacity of 320,000–550,000 DWT


coaching stock

(rail transport, collectively) passenger-carrying railway coaches or (less commonly) multiple units. Contrasted with locomotives, freight wagons and engineering vehicles.


ECS

electronic chart system
electronic chart system#English

(nautical) Initialism of electronic chart system.

empty coaching stock
empty coaching stock#English

(rail transport) Initialism of empty coaching stock.


empty coaching stock

(rail transport, attributive) A passenger train movement carried out without passengers on board; usually between a station and a siding or depot. Abbreviated as ECS.


empty coaching stock

(rail transport) A train consisting of empty passenger carriages or one or more empty multiple units. Abbreviated as ECS.


uncast

en-verb

uncast (third-person singular simple present uncasts, present participle uncasting, simple past and past participle uncast)

uncasts (present singular third-person)
uncasting (participle present)
uncast (participle past)
uncast (past)

[…] the vessel, uncasting the hawser which had detained it, instantly left the ice […]

1846, Francis Bond Head, chapter 12, in The Emigrant, London: John Murray, page 264:

[…] I pulled up my dinghy and uncast the painter, and pushed off and left them there together, Sir Philip and Lady Stenning.

1932, Neville Shute, Lonely Road, London: Heinemann, Chapter:

(nautical) To detach (a rope, line, etc.).


dining car

(rail transport) A carriage on a train that functions as a restaurant.


up and down

(nautical) Vertical; perpendicular; said of the cable when the anchor is under, or nearly under, the hawse hole, and the cable is taut.


pointwork

Before long, this box will be installed nearer Grosmont (NYM) level crossing to permit control of the crossing gates (presently hand-worked) and to replace the eight-lever ground frame which currently operates the pointwork.

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

And for maintenance of pointwork, a six-platform service can be operated whichever throat is under possession.

2020 March 25, William Barter, “HS2: Euston or Old Oak Common?”, in Rail, page 58:

(rail transport) The engineering of sets of points on a railway, tramway, etc.


leadsman

From (genitive form of) lead (“heavy metal; Pb”) + man.

In the same moment the leadsman hove the lead, and, finding it directly take the ground, he, in his fright, called out, ‘There's only three fathom.’

1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 205

(nautical) A sailor who takes soundings with a lead, measuring the depth of water.

אִישׁ חֶבֶל הָאֲנָךְ

Seaman taking soundings with a hand lead


railway sleeper

en-noun

railway sleeper (plural railway sleepers)

West's friends were so appalled by the nature of his death that they arranged for a wooden memorial in the churchyard of St Laurence's, constructed aptly from a railway sleeper.

2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Reading (1840)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 56:

(rail transport, chiefly UK) A railroad tie.


shipbroking

(nautical) The work of a shipbroker, negotiating between shipowners and people wanting to charter shipping.


maniverter

(automotive) A component that integrates the functions of exhaust manifold and catalytic converter.


waterage

(shipping, transport) A fee for transporting goods by water.


yarage

(nautical, archaic, of a ship) The power of moving, or being managed, at sea.


in ballast

(nautical, of a ship) Having only ballast and no cargo as load.


Euston

It was replaced by a New Euston, "bold in design and layout and in keeping with a new railway era". Betjeman was unmoved, describing it tersely as "no masterpiece" and noting that its lack of platform seating made it an "inhuman structure" which seemed to ignore passengers.

2023 February 8, Greg Morse, “Crossing the border... by Sleeper”, in RAIL, number 976, page 45:

(rail transport) A large railway station in central London (OS grid ref TQ2982).


jumboize

en-verb

jumboize (third-person singular simple present jumboizes, present participle jumboizing, simple past and past participle jumboized)

jumboizes (present singular third-person)
jumboizing (participle present)
jumboized (participle past)
jumboized (past)

The replacement and enlargement of the entire cargo section, commonly called "jumboizing," of one of the smaller American-flag tankers, now under bareboat charter to the Company, was completed in September.

1945, Atlantic Refining Company, Annual Report, The Company

This year the Great Lakes fleet will have four so-called "jumboized" ocean tanks with mid-body sections built in Europe and towed across the Atlantic Ocean and joined to salvaged bow and stern sections.

1953, Minnesota. Legislature. Commission on Taxation of Iron Ore, Report Submitted to the Minnesota Legislature:

Named for the river, the Canisteo was commissioned in 1945 and "jumboized" (increased in size and capacity) in 1967.

2009, Kirk W. House, Around Hornell, Arcadia Publishing, page 114:

(nautical, transitive) To lengthen (a ship) by replacing an existing section with a longer section or inserting an additional section.


sag off

sag off (third-person singular simple present sags off, present participle sagging off, simple past and past participle sagged off)

sags off (present singular third-person)
sagging off (participle present)
sagged off (participle past)
sagged off (past)

The more the backstay is tightened, the less the headstay will sag off to leeward, forming a rigid and more efficient arc along the luff of the genoa while beating to weather.

1982 January, Jerry Cartwright, “Cruising Seamanship”, in Motorboating & Sailing, volume 149, number 2, page 23:

The helmsman allowed her to sag off a little as she rode the wave, and Rennie drew breath to say something — and had to bite his tongue.

The effect of this downwards pull is to eliminate excessive twist and sagging off to leeward at the head of the sail and to allow a little more flow or belly near the luff.

2008, Ian Proctor, Racing Dinghy Maintenance, page 120:

If we missed stays and failed to tack we would sag off to leeward, onto the sandbank.

2015, Ian Nicolson, The Ian Nicolson Trilogy, →ISBN:

(nautical) To move too far leeward when sailing on the wind.


quickwork

en-noun

quickwork (countable and uncountable, plural quickworks)

(nautical, archaic) All of the submerged section of a vessel's planking.

(nautical, archaic) The planking between the spirketing and the clamps.

(nautical, archaic) The short planks between the portholes.


garvey

(nautical) A type of boat which was originally flat-bottomed, reminiscent of a sled, and historically sailed around New Jersey.


thimbled

(nautical, technology) Of a cable or rope, or a piece of machinery or other device: having a thimble (“ring-, thimble-, or tube-shaped component”).


under one's own steam

A reference to the operation of a steam engine: see sense 1.

Now the tug no longer moved under her own steam, nor had it been since coming alongside the wall of the central pier. For all vessels must be towed through the lock basins, and towed not by other craft, but by electric locomotives that run alongside, on top of the concrete walls.

1915, Victor Appleton [pseudonym], “Almost an Accident”, in The Moving Picture Boys at Panama: Or Stirring Adventures along the Grand Canal, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC, page 106:

By Tuesday evening the track had been cleared to the three snowbound engines, and the following day, under their own steam, they were moved away; the business of relighting their fires and raising steam in such conditions is better imagined than described.

1941 April, “Notes and News: Railwaymen and Snow”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 178:

(nautical, rail transport) Of the movement of a locomotive or a watercraft: by means of the power of its own engines (originally steam engines), rather than pulled or pushed by another vehicle.


narrow sea

(nautical) A body of ocean water such as a channel.


narrow seas

(nautical, law, UK) Those seas (bodies of ocean water) which surround the British Isles, especially the English Channel.


outstand

en-verb

outstand (third-person singular simple present outstands, present participle outstanding, simple past and past participle outstood)

outstands (present singular third-person)
outstanding (participle present)
outstood (participle past)
outstood (past)

From Middle English outstanden, utstanden, equivalent to out- + stand. Cognate with Saterland Frisian uutstounde (“to bear, tolerate”), Dutch uitstaan (“to abide, suffer, dree”), German ausstehen (“to stand, endure, abide”), Swedish utstå (“to suffer, endure, pass through”).

cog

(intransitive, nautical, archaic) To stand out to sea.


treadwear

(US, automotive) A numerical measure of how long the tread of a tire can be expected to last.


AUV

autonomous underwater vehicle
w:autonomous underwater vehicle

(nautical, robotics) Initialism of autonomous underwater vehicle.

Asian utility vehicle
Asian utility vehicle#English

(chiefly Philippines, automotive) Initialism of Asian utility vehicle.


XO

executive officer
executive officer#English

(military, nautical) Initialism of executive officer.


traincrew

This has included, for example, getting French railway driving licences for traincrew, as cross acceptance will cease in a no deal scenario.

2019 October, Rail Freight Group, “Consequences of a no deal Brexit”, in Modern Railways, page 20:

All that is happily a thing of the past, following construction of a new combined engineering and traincrew depot to which some 450 frontline and managerial staff have been transferred.

2021 September 22, “National Rail Awards 2021: Exeter Train Care Depot”, in RAIL, number 940, page 51:

Traincrew management has always been a bit of a black art, rather than a science. The present traincrew difficulties that beset the UK rail industry are neither new nor were they unforeseeable.

2022 November 16, Graham Eccles, “The Rest Day Working saga...”, in RAIL, number 970, page 32:

(rail transport) The crew of employees that operate a railway train.


foretopman

It was a warm night for the latitude; and the Foretopman, whose watch at the time was properly below, was dozing on the uppermost deck whither he had ascended from his hot hammock

1924, Herman Melville, chapter 12, in Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co.:

WHEN Jimmy Fallon showed up on NBC ’s “Late Night” last week without a sidekick, it looked like yet another sign that the Ed McMahon era is over; so many talk show hosts work solo that the second-banana position seems almost as obsolete as the foretopman or the Linotype operator.

2009 March 8, Alessandra Stanley, “The Vanishing Sidekick”, in New York Times:

(nautical) A sailor who controls the masts in the foretop.


crash gearbox

(automotive, informal) A transmission with a sliding mesh, used in older vehicles; gear changes are often accompanied by loud noises.


change of tack

(nautical) The act of tacking, turning into the wind so the sail moves to the opposite side.


shakings

(nautical) The sweepings from a ship's deck; the refuse of cordage, canvas, etc.


Northeast Corridor

Northeast Corridor
Northeast megalopolis

(rail transport) Amtrak's rail routes from Washington DC to Boston MA.


Acela

A shortening of Acela Express, from a marketing coinage based on acceleration and excellence.

(US, rail transport) The service mark of Amtrak's high-speed rail service in the Northeast Corridor of the United States.


Amtrak

Coined circa 1971; blend of American + track.

Trains are fuller under Amtrak, but it is thought to be largely because there are fewer trains.

1969, School Mathematics Study Group, Studies in mathematics, volumes 19-20, page 8:

Its pitifully small appropriation of $40 million already gone, Amtrak has asked Congress for another $170 million to keep the trains running through mid-1973.

1971, “Give the trains a chance”, in Life, page 42:

The Amtrak brand revitalization approach represents one of the most ambitious, comprehensive, and systematic experiential marketing approaches I have ever seen.

1999, Bernd Schmitt, Experiential marketing, page 39:

(US, rail transport) A US passenger railway (incorporated as the National Railroad Passenger Corporation).


naumachia

en-noun

naumachia (plural naumachias or naumachiae)

Learned borrowing from Latin naumachia, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ναυμαχία (naumakhía). Compare naumachy.

BEFORE he went to feed with owls and bats
Nebuchadnezzar had an ugly dream,
Worse than an Hus'if's when she thinks her cream
Made a Naumachia for mice and rats.

1816, John Keats, Sonnet - Before he went to feed with owls and bats, Wordsworth Editions, published 1994, page 270:

(historical, nautical, in Ancient Rome) The recreation of a sea battle staged for entertainment.


B-pillar

(automotive) The vertical support dividing a car's front side window from its rear or central side window.


C-pillar

(automotive) The vertical support dividing a car's rear window from its rear windscreen, or, if the car has an additional window and D-pillar, the support dividing the central and rear windows.


D-pillar

(automotive) The vertical support dividing a car's rear windscreen from its rear window (where the car has a central side window between the front and rear side windows; see C-pillar).


chain ferry

(nautical) A ferry that is pulled through the water via an attached chain.


gear change

The train speeds at which gear changes are made are 15, 27 and 41 m.p.h., and quite an appreciable number of seconds can be economised in running if precisely the correct moment is chosen to change.

1960 August, Cecil J. Allen, “Locomotive Running Past and Present”, in Trains Illustrated, page 463:

(automotive) A mechanism which changes gears in a vehicle.


dolphin striker

dolphin striker (plural dolphin strikers)

meanwhile some of the sailors, with an imitative flying fish, get to that part of the vessel just under the bowsprit, called “the dolphin striker,” and with a bottle midway to their bait, they suddenly jerk it out of the water, to imitate the flying fish.

1844, William Graeme Rhind, The Creation: A Series of Letters from a Father to His Children:

I ordered the Captain of the forecastle, to run out on the bowsprit with the end of a two inch at once, and throw a running bowline knot over his shoulders, and by-and-by, when he broke adrift from the dolphin striker, we hauled him in by the head; and the same night or next morning, I had a good beefsteak cut off him near his tail, and a capital one it was, too, you would hardly have known it from the regular beef.

1846, Jack's Life at Sea: By an Old Irish Captain of the Head., page 366:

The dolphin striker is slung near the cap; and the sprit-sail gaffs near the rigging by "jaw ropes,” and supported at their ends by lifts from the bowsprit cap.

1857, John McNeill Boyd, A Manual for Naval Cadets, page 173:

An iron band with studs for the martingale and back ropes to be fitted to is frequently used on the dolphin striker.

1865, Sir George Strong Nares, Seamanship, page 71:

(nautical) A near-vertical spar between the bowsprit and martingale


undermasted

en-adj

undermasted (comparative more undermasted, superlative most undermasted)

more undermasted (comparative)
most undermasted (superlative)

(nautical) Having masts smaller than the usual size.


DTE

en-noun

DTE (countable and uncountable, plural DTEs)

(electronics, automotive) Distance to Empty


SORN

(UK, automotive) Acronym of statutory off-road notification.


woold

en-verb

woold (third-person singular simple present woolds, present participle woolding, simple past and past participle woolded)

woolds (present singular third-person)
woolding (participle present)
woolded (participle past)
woolded (past)

From Dutch woelde, past participle of woelen.

(nautical) To wind a chain or rope around in order to strengthen (especially a mast or yard).


self-right

self-right (third-person singular simple present self-rights, present participle self-righting, simple past and past participle self-righted)

self-rights (present singular third-person)
self-righting (participle present)
self-righted (participle past)
self-righted (past)

Back-formation from self-righting, equivalent to self- + right.

(chiefly robotics or nautical) To make oneself upright.


sail close to the wind

sail close to the wind (third-person singular simple present sails close to the wind, present participle sailing close to the wind, simple past and past participle sailed close to the wind)

sails close to the wind (present singular third-person)
sailing close to the wind (participle present)
sailed close to the wind (participle past)
sailed close to the wind (past)

Sense 2 (“to behave in a manner on the verge of being dangerous, illegal, or improper”) derives from the fact that to sail an old-fashioned sailing ship close to the direction the wind was blowing from was risky because a small change in the wind direction could fill the sails and push them against the mast, potentially breaking it.

As the Syrene vvas ſeen to fall to leevvard in the afternoon, the ſignal vvas made to her to ſail as cloſe to the vvind as poſſible.

1781, [Mouffle d’Angerville], “Appendix. Secret Expedition, from 1758 to 1759.”, in J. O. Justamond, transl., The Private Life of Lewis XV. […], volume IV, London: […] Charles Dilly, […], →OCLC, page 304:

A vessel sails close to the wind, when her head is just so near the wind as to fill the sails without shaking them.

1846, Arthur Young, James Brisbane, “CLOSE”, in Nautical Dictionary: Containing Explanations of Terms and Phrases used in the Building and Outfit of Sailing Vessels and Steam-ships; in Seamanship, Navigation, and Nautical Astronomy; and in Naval Gunnery: […], Dundee: William Middleton; London: Charles Wilson (late J. W. Norie & Wilson); Hamilton Adams & Co., →OCLC, page 74:

American privateers were beautifully built, and modelled so as to facilitate escape rather than come into close quarters. […] Such a vessel could sail close to the wind or tack suddenly; one pivot gun of long range was carried amidships, and there were plenty of men on board.

1894, Julian Hawthorne, James Schouler, E[lisha] Benjamin Andrews, “Second Administration of James Madison”, in United States from the Discovery of the North American Continent up to the Present Time […] (World’s Best Histories), volume III, New York, N.Y.; London: The Co-operative Publication Society, →OCLC, section II (Period of Fourteenth Congress. March 4, 1815 – March 3, 1817.), page 504:

We scudded blithely over the sea. It was the long-boat we had. She was well-built and sturdy and a good sailer; though sailing close to the wind, it was not strong enough to keel her over too far, besides, to stiffen her, we were all perched to windward.

1949, Fred W. Ellis, “Explorations and Departure”, in Round Cape Horn in Sail, South Croydon, Surrey: The Blue Book Company, →OCLC, page 206:

Because the Sirius had failed to tack, the wind had blown it backwards onto the reef: the result perhaps of an unexpected shift of the wind, a shoreward current, [Philip Gidley] King's failure to warn [John] Hunter about the current and a bold commander who sometimes sailed close to the wind.

2016, Graeme Henderson, “The Loss of HMS Sirius, Escort to the First Fleet, in 1790”, in Swallowed by the Sea: The Story of Australia’s Shipwrecks, Canberra, A.C.T.: NLA Publishing, →ISBN, page 56:

(nautical) To sail in a direction close to that from which the wind is blowing, while still making headway.

kryssiä

to sail in a direction close to that from which the wind is blowing


horsecar

Nothing could well resemble less a typical English street than […] the extraordinary number of omnibuses, horsecars, and other democratic vehicles, […]

1878, Henry James, An International Episode:

(rail transport) A streetcar or tram drawn by a horse.

(rail transport) A freight car designed for transporting horses.


Jacob's ladder

And this is one of the signs by which you can tell a man-of-war from a merchantman, for in war-ships the catch ratline is on the aftermost shroud instead of on the foremost. In a man-of-war, too, the topgallant-rigging is never rattled down, as a Jacob's ladder leads from the topgallantmast-head down to the crosstrees; but this Jacob's ladder arrangement is found in many clippers.

1891 November 28, W. J. Gordon, “Rigging and Rigs”, in Golden Days for Boys and Girls, volume XIII, number 1:

(nautical) A rope ladder from the ratline to the upper mast.


sambuq

(nautical) A type of dhow (“small Arabian boat”).


LHD

en-noun

LHD (countable and uncountable, plural LHDs)

Coordinate term: RHD

(automotive) Abbreviation of left-hand drive.

Coordinate term: LHA

amphibious assault ship
amphibious assault ship#English

(nautical, military, aviation) Initialism of landing, helicopter, dock.: A type of amphibious assault ship that has a dock for handling landing crafts, and a deck for handling helicopters.


trunkline

(US, transport) Any road under the jurisdiction of the Michigan Department of Transportation.


lie off

en-verb

lie off (third-person singular simple present lies off, present participle lying off, simple past lay off, past participle lain off)

lies off (present singular third-person)
lying off (participle present)
lay off (past)
lain off (participle past)

Try to lie off the cardinal.

(nautical, transitive) To remain at a safe distance from (another vessel or hazard)


lay on

lay on (third-person singular simple present lays on, present participle laying on, simple past and past participle laid on)

lays on (present singular third-person)
laying on (participle present)
laid on (participle past)
laid on (past)

(nautical) To sail towards or to arrive at (a destination).

(nautical) To vigorously row (an oar) to propel a boat or ship.


yole

(nautical) A Scottish rowing boat that could also use a sail


deadworks

(nautical) The parts of a laden ship that are above water.


frapping

en-noun

frapping (countable and uncountable, plural frappings)

(nautical, usually in the plural) Rope lashed tightly over the rigging or other area.


flag stop

All trains stop at all stations, with the exception of a few "local" stations near Mombasa and an odd flag stop or two usually missed by the mails.

1950 April, Timothy H. Cobb, “The Kenya-Uganda Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 263:

(rail transport, US) A train station at which trains stop only on request.


stokehole

From stoke + hole, after Dutch stookgat.

(nautical) The place in a steamship in which stokers fed the boilers with coal; a stokehold.


unballasted

Then, as if the clouds had discharged their aqueous cargo and rode light as unballasted ships, they lifted in aerial fleets and sailed away, white in a blue sky.

1922, Bertrand W. Sinclair, The Hidden Places:

(shipping) Not loaded or stabilised with ballast.


unreeve

en-verb

unreeve (third-person singular simple present unreeves, present participle unreeving, simple past and past participle unreeved)

unreeves (present singular third-person)
unreeving (participle present)
unreeved (participle past)
unreeved (past)

From Middle English *unreven (attested only in past participle unrevyn) equivalent to un- + reeve.

He could not only splice a broken "fall," and repair the sheaves and friction-rollers in a hoisting-block, but whenever the rigging got tangled aloft he could spring up the derrick like a cat and unreeve the rope in an instant.

But he carried all sail till the rotten main-sheet parted at the boom, and when he came up in the wind to lower the sail the main throat halyard refused to unreeve.

1909, A. W. Dimock, Dick in the Everglades:

(transitive, nautical) To withdraw or take out, as for example a rope from a block.


unstayed

Wingsails are typically mounted on an unstayed spar.


baseplate

Baseplates are inserted between rail and sleeper to measure the dynamic loads which are being imposed; […].

1964 July, “Prince Philip opens the new BR Research Laboratories at Derby”, in Modern Railways, page 24:


coble

From Middle English coble, from Cumbric coubal (“skiff”) (compare Welsh ceubal).

(nautical) small flat-bottomed fishing boat suitable for launching from a beach, found on the north-east coast of England and in Scotland.


pointsman

At their point of origin, constructing these boxes presented railway companies with an attractive proposition: to remove the need for pointsmen and flagmen operating at several ground-level locations around a railway site by housing one or two men in a signal structure.

2021 October 20, Dr Joseph Brennan, “A key part of our diverse railway heritage”, in RAIL, number 942, page 57:

(rail transport) A man in charge of railroad points or switches.

стрелочник

a man in charge of railroad points or switches


doublestack

(rail transport) Involving intermodal containers stacked two units high.


spin out

spin out (third-person singular simple present spins out, present participle spinning out, simple past and past participle spun out)

spins out (present singular third-person)
spinning out (participle present)
spun out (participle past)
spun out (past)

Two cars spun out on the icy road and wound up in a ditch.

(automotive, of a vehicle, intransitive) To rotate about the yaw axis while skidding, such that the vehicle's longitudinal axis is no longer aligned with its direction of linear motion.

The Formula One driver spun out on a tight curve.

Bob accidentally spun out his Mercedes when he hit a patch of black ice.

(automotive, of a driver, transitive, intransitive) To cause one's vehicle to rotate about the yaw axis while skidding, such that the vehicle's longitudinal axis is no longer aligned with its direction of linear motion; or to experience such behavior from one's vehicle.


buffet car

A small ornamental panel displayed the Great Central's slogan, "Each Express is Vestibuled and has a Buffet Car attached." The buffet car is now being successfully exploited again by the L.N.E.R., but it is only last May that this facility returned to its parent line after a long absence.

1934 February, B. K. Cooper, “Some Great Central Reflections”, in Railway Magazine, page 83:

(rail transport) A railway carriage in which food and drink can be bought at a counter, and either taken to another carriage or consumed at the seating provided.


restaurant car

One result of this latest increase is the odd situation that a restaurant car dinner costs 6d. more than a Pullman dinner (boat trains excluded).

1959 March, “Talking of Trains: Fewer meals on wheels?”, in Trains Illustrated, page 121:

TfW's [Transport for Wales] Mk 4s [Mk 4 coaches] are due to operate three pairs of workings between Holyhead and Cardiff, with First Class passengers offered complimentary breakfast, lunch or dinner cooked in the restaurant car.

2019 October, Rhodri Clark, “TfW seeks PRM derogation for Class 37 sets”, in Modern Railways, page 87:

Yes, Great Western Railway has a handful of restaurant cars on Mon-Fri, but on most services you'll be lucky to get a sandwich.

2022 November 30, Barry Doe, “Eurostar award demonstrates value of catering”, in RAIL, number 971, page 71:


SLS

Space Launch System
Space Launch System#English

(space science, transport) Initialism of Space Launch System.

Space Launcher System
Space Launcher System#English

(space science, transport) Initialism of Space Launcher System.


Space Launch System

(transport, space science) A Shuttle-derived heavy launch vehicle being designed by NASA to replace the Space Shuttle.


groundage

en-noun

groundage (countable and uncountable, plural groundages)

For every vessel with salt fish, for groundage eight pence per day

1826, Joseph Chitty, A Treatise on the Game Laws, and on Fisheries:

(nautical) A local tax paid by a ship for the ground or space it occupies while in port.


lightroom

(nautical) A small room from which the magazine of a naval vessel is lighted, being separated from the magazine by heavy glass windows.


rudderhole

(nautical) The hole in the deck through which the rudderpost passes.


undersparred

en-adj

undersparred (comparative more undersparred, superlative most undersparred)

more undersparred (comparative)
most undersparred (superlative)

(nautical) Having spars smaller than the usual dimension.


rombowline

It has probably been destroyed altogether, but Rome is a great place for treasuring rubbish and rombowline, and perhaps the old keyboard still exists, with stacks of wooden and metal pipes and bundles of worm- eaten trackers, all piled up together and forgotten in some corner of the crypt, or in some high belfry room or long-closed attic above the gorgeous ceiling of the Basilica.

1909, F. Marion Crawford, chapter XX, in Stradella: An Old Italian Love Tale, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 348:

The port and starboard walls were lined with three-tiered berths so close together that the occupant must enter by assuming a half sitting, half reclining position. In front of each hung a shabby bit of rombowline, dating from antiquity. It is used to keep out the air at night and the light during the day when the sailors sleep.

1929, Viola Irene Cooper, Windjamming to Fiji, New York: A. L. Burt Company, →OCLC, page 114:

(nautical) Old, condemned canvas, rope, etc., unfit for use except in chafing gear.


snotter

(nautical) A rope going over a yardarm, used to bend a tripping line to, in sending down topgallant and royal yards in vessels of war; also, the short line supporting the heel of the sprit in a small boat.


foreganger

From Middle English forganger, forgangere, from Old English *foregangere, from foregangan (“to go before, precede, go in front of, project, excel”), equivalent to fore- + ganger. Cognate with Scots foregangare (“a foregoer”), Dutch voorganger (“a predecessor, progenitor”), German Vorgänger (“a predecessor, precursor”), Swedish föregångare (“a forerunner, precursor, progenitor”).

cog

The foreganger is most commonly formed of white or untarred rope , which is stronger and more flexible than tarred rope , consequently more easily extended when the harpoon is thrown

1820, William Scoresby, The whale-fishery:

(nautical) A short rope grafted on a harpoon, to which a longer line may be attached.


catfall

belay the catfall; pass the stopper ; hook the fish

1810, John Hamilton Moore, The New Practical Navigator:

(nautical) A rope used in hoisting the anchor to the cathead.


platform screen door

en-noun

platform screen door (plural platform screen doors)

They will feature wider gangways for better wheelchair accessibility, as well as compatibility with platform screen doors - should these ever be introduced in the future.

2023 August 9, “Network News: SPT delighted with testing of new Glasgow Subway trains”, in RAIL, number 989, page 24:

(rail transport) One of a series of doors at a train or subway station, at the edge of a platform, that prevent access beyond the platform when there is no train to be boarded.


forebrace

He noted the effect on the ship of this change; then, as though satisfied, roared out: "Let your forebraces hang, forrard there! Stand by heavin'-lines fore and aft! Stand by to go ahead with that steamer when we have your line!"

1899, Morgan Robertson, Where Angels Fear to Tread:

“The gorilla was halfway up the fore rigging by this time, and the two Dutchmen had reached the foreyard, while the Sou’egian was going higher. One Dutchman laid out to windward, the other to leeward, and I thought of a plan.
“‘Climb aft on the forebrace, each one of you,’ I sang out. ‘If he follows, I’ll let go the brace when you’ve reached the mainmast.’

(nautical) A rope applied to the fore yardarm, to change the position of the foresail.


rudderstock

(nautical) The axle connected to the rudder.


snying

(nautical) A curved plank, placed edgewise, to work in the bows of a vessel.


forehook

(nautical) A piece of timber placed across the stern, to unite the bows and strengthen the fore part of the ship; a breast hook.


double-ender

(nautical) A vessel capable of moving both forwards and backwards, having bow and rudder at each end.


EAB

emergency air breather
emergency air breather#English

(US, military, nautical) Initialism of emergency air breather.


keeler

From Middle English keler, equivalent to keel (noun) + -er.

(nautical) One who works on a barge or keel.


trawlwarp

(nautical) A rope passing through a block, used in managing or dragging a trawlnet.


weatherliness

(nautical) The quality of being weatherly.


dogvane

she had an ugly knack of stopping, and swinging one leg all manner of ways, like a dogvane in a calm.

Nor was any mariner surprised when, after inspecting the compass, and then the dog-vane, and then ascertaining the precise bearing of the odor as nearly as possible, Ahab rapidly ordered the ship’s course to be slightly altered, and the sail to be shortened.

1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick or the Whale:

(nautical) A small vane of bunting, feathers, or other light material, fastened to the end of a short staff and placed on the weather gunwale of a sailing ship to assist the helmsman to judge the direction of the wind.

(obsolete, nautical) A cockade worn on a hat (worn in the British Navy in the 18th and 19th centuries)


weathermost

(nautical) Farthest to the windward side.


CSG

CSG (countable and uncountable, plural CSGs)

carrier strike group
carrier strike group#English

(military, nautical, aviation) Abbreviation of carrier strike group.

carrier surface group
carrier surface group#English

(military, nautical, aviation) Abbreviation of carrier surface group.

carrier surface assertion group
carrier surface assertion group#English

(military, nautical, aviation) Abbreviation of carrier surface assertion group.


jears

(nautical, archaic) Collectively, tackles, for hoisting or lowering the yards of a ship.


bluff-bowed

en-adj

bluff-bowed (comparative more bluff-bowed, superlative most bluff-bowed)

more bluff-bowed (comparative)
most bluff-bowed (superlative)

“[...] he thereby may be said to transform himself from a bluff-bowed sluggish galliot into a sharppointed New York pilot-boat."

1851, Herman Melville, chapter 61, in Moby Dick:

(nautical, archaic) Having broad and flat bows.


guess warp

Because it is necessary to guess at the length to be carried in the boat making the attachment to a distant object.

My foot touched land for the first time for ninety days when I leaped from the rail onto the dolphin at the Dock gates, slipped the end of our guess-warp over the bollard, and sang out to them inboard to take in the slack.

1912, Kyrle Bellew, Short Stories, How I Got on the Stage:

(nautical, dated) A rope or hawser by which a vessel is towed or moored.


wreckmaster

(rail transport) Someone in charge of a wreck train


kevel

From English dialect kevil, cavel (“rod, pole, a large hammer”), from Middle English kevel, *kavel (“a large stonemason's hammer”), from Old Norse kefli, kafli n (“a cylinder, stick, piece of wood”) and Old Norse kefli, kafli m (“a piece cut off, buoy, piece”). Compare Icelandic kefli (“cylinder, a stick, mangle”), and Danish kievle (“a roller”).

cog

(nautical) A strong cleat to which large ropes are belayed.


snape

en-verb

snape (third-person singular simple present snapes, present participle snaping, simple past and past participle snaped)

snapes (present singular third-person)
snaping (participle present)
snaped (participle past)
snaped (past)

Origin obscure. Perhaps from snape, a dialectal variant of sneap (“to nip, bite, pinch”). More at sneap.

It had to be accurately cut and trimmed, and its upper edge scored to suit the snaping of every beam end.

2000, William L. Crothers, The American-built Clipper Ship, 1850-1856, International Marine, page 265:

(nautical, shipbuilding) To bevel the end of a timber to fit against an inclined surface.


kedger

(archaic, nautical) A small anchor; a kedge.


breastfast

(nautical, archaic) A large rope to fasten the midship part of a ship to a wharf or to another vessel.


doggerman

(historical, nautical) A sailor who worked on a dogger (two-masted fishing vessel).


astarboard

(nautical, archaic) Over to the starboard side.


whipstaff

en-noun

whipstaff (plural whipstaffs or whipstaves)

(nautical) A bar, going through the poopdeck, attached orthogonally to the tiller for steering a ship.


waister

The largest division of a ship's company, and the most ignoble, was that of the waisters, the men stationed in the waist, the men " without art or judgment," who hauled aft the fore and main sheets, and kept the decks white.

1905, John Masefield, Sea Life in Nelson's Time, page 129:

(nautical, military, historical) A seaman stationed in the waist of a warship.


fraughtage

/ˈfɹɔːtɪd͡ʒ/

Our fraughtage, sir, I have convey'd aboard; and I have bought the oil, the balsamum and aqua-vitae.

c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

c. 1610-1614, William Rowley (attributed), A New Wonder, a Woman Never Vexed
our ships are so near return, as laden on the Downs with such a wealthy fraughtage.


toplight

(nautical) A lantern or light on the top of a vessel.


foredraft

... wherein said foredraft part includes at least a moorage hull part, — Floating offshore structure : U.S. Patent Number 4,519,728, 1985

(nautical) The draft at the fore perpendicular. Also "fore draft".


lorcha

From Portuguese lorcha, of unclear origin; see the Portuguese entry for more.

At the same time, the fact must not be lost sight of, that the primary cause of the war was the affair on the lorcha "Arrow."

1901, Charles S. Leavenworth, The Arrow War with China:

(nautical) A kind of light vessel used on the coast of China, having the hull built on a European model, and the rigging like that of a Chinese junk.


keckle

en-verb

keckle (third-person singular simple present keckles, present participle keckling, simple past and past participle keckled)

keckles (present singular third-person)
keckling (participle present)
keckled (participle past)
keckled (past)

Large vessels should have twelve or fourteen fathoms of service, half of it rounded and the rest plaited and keckled.

1813, Seamanship, Both in Theory and Practice:

(nautical) To wind rope or chains around (a cable etc.) to protect its surface from friction, abrasion, or ice.


eyesplice

(nautical) A splice formed by bending a rope's end back and fastening it into the rope, forming a loop or eye.


harness cask

"Why, it's thirty year and more since I saw you last. Here you are in your house, and me still picking my salt meat out of the harness cask."

1893, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Gloria Scott:

1883, William Clark Russell, "Going Aloft" in Round The Galley Fire, a collection of sketches and tales that originally featured in The Daily Telegraph newspaper
Practical seamanship, in the old sense, is bound to die out, because there is no need to preserve it. It was only the other day that an old skipper assured me that he was acquainted with the mate of a steamer who did not know what a harness-cask was, "and worst of all, sir," cried my friend, "he's not ashamed of his ignorance."

(nautical, archaic) A (usually round) barrel lashed to a vessel's deck and containing salted provisions for daily use.


Indiaman

No place is so propitious to the formation either of close friendships or of deadly enmities as an Indiaman

1841, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Warren Hastings:

Buried treasures are naturally among the problems which have come to Mr. [Sherlock] Holmes. One genuine case was accompanied by a diagram here reproduced. [...] Each Indiaman in those days had its own semaphore code, and it is conjectured that the three marks upon the left are signals from a three-armed semaphore.

1924 September, Arthur Conan Doyle, “Sidelights on Sherlock Holmes”, in Memories and Adventures, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, and Company, →OCLC, page 110:

(nautical) A large ship that traded between Britain and India on behalf of the East India Company.


timberhead

(nautical) The top end of a timber, rising above the gunwale, and serving for belaying ropes, etc.


headrope

(nautical) The part of a bolt rope that is sewn to the upper edge or head of a sail.

rópa droma

the part of a boltrope that is sewn to the upper edge of a sail


special service requirement

en-noun

special service requirement (plural special service requirements)

(aviation, travel industry) A request for special treatment for a passenger such as a special diet or mobility assistance, sent from an agent to an airline, to which a reply will be returned.

OSI

Similar, but not replied to by the airline


bufferhead

(rail transport) The head of a buffer, which receives the impact.


husbandage

(nautical) The commission or compensation allowed to a ship's manager, or "husband".


foothook

From futtock, reinterpreted as foot + hook.


frigatoon

From Italian fregatone. Compare French frégaton and see frigate.

(nautical, historical) A Venetian vessel with a square stern, having only a mainmast, jigger mast, and bowsprit; also a sloop of war ship-rigged.


bowgrace

(nautical, historical) A frame or fender made of rope or junk (old cordage), hung over the sides or bow (front) of a vessel to avoid it getting damaged.


lowry

(chiefly US, rail transport) An open boxcar used on railroads.


turnplate

In the Birmingham station the large turnplate in the locomotive engine house is completed, and the necessary rails fitting it for the reception of engines will he laid in a few days.

1839, Peter Lecount, chapter 14, in The History of the Railway Connecting London and Birmingham, Simpkin, Marshall, and Company:

(rail transport) A turntable (rotating platform for turning vehicles).


HIF

higher intermediate fare
higher intermediate fare#English

(travel industry) Initialism of higher intermediate fare.


EMA

EMA (countable and uncountable, plural EMAs)

(travel industry) Initialism of Excess Milage Allowance.


higher intermediate point

higher intermediate point (plural higher intermediate points)

(travel, aviation, fare construction) A place on an itinerary to which there is a higher fare than the destination or next fare break point.


higher intermediate fare

higher intermediate fare (plural higher intermediate fares)

(aviation, travel industry, fare construction) An airfare that is higher at a midpoint than the destination or next fare break point.


light-handed

en-adj

light-handed (comparative lighter-handed or more light-handed, superlative lightest-handed or most light-handed)

lighter-handed (comparative)
more light-handed (comparative)
lightest-handed (superlative)
most light-handed (superlative)

From Middle English lyghte handyd, from light (adjective) + honded, participle of honden (“to seize, take charge of”), from the noun hond (“hand”). See more at hand.

“We will hold on to the last, while he must begin to take in soon, or the squall will come upon him too fast for a light-handed vessel.”

1836, James Fenimore Cooper, The Water Witch:

If light-handed, or the wind fresh, let go the bowline and ease off the tack, (being careful to let the bowline go before the tack,) and haul up the weather clew.

1841, Richard Henry Dana, The Seaman's Friend, page 57:

Bower anchors should be alike in weight; for the convenience, however, of light-handed crews, it is customary to make a very material difference between them, which is a very grave error

1866, Transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects, page 195:

Being so lighthanded the vessel could not be properly managed and could carry but little sail, consequently her progress was but slow.

1887, The Contributor: Representing the Young Men's and Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associations of the Latter-day Saints, Volume 8, page 168:

I have therefore ordered Fuller's brigade from Memphis to Big Bear Creek, which leaves me very light-handed here.

1891, S.A. Hurlbut, Congressional Series of United States Public Documents, Volume 2795, page 431:

I looked at the round bows of the sloop, and then at the old sails and the light-handed crew.

2007, Theodore Dwight, Things as They Are, →ISBN, page 64:

(nautical or military) Not having a full complement of workers.


quadragintireme

As to the Quadragintiremes, or vessels usually described as having forty ranks or tiers of oars, we cannot reconcile the report to our understandings, except by supposing them nothing more than galleys fitted with as many oars in each rank.

1799, The Naval Chronicle, volume 1, page 132:

(nautical, historical) A vessel with 40 rows of oars.


currency adjustment factor

en-noun

currency adjustment factor (plural currency adjustment factors)

(travel industry, aviation) (Formerly, no longer in use) An IATA defined amount used to adjust Fare Construction Units in international airfare calculations.


bluff-headed

en-adj

bluff-headed (comparative more bluff-headed, superlative most bluff-headed)

more bluff-headed (comparative)
most bluff-headed (superlative)

(nautical) Built with the stern nearly straight up and down.


standage

en-noun

standage (countable and uncountable, plural standages)

The distribution depot at Liversedge is equipped with parallel sidings for wagon standage.

1964 January, “News and Comment: New block oil developments”, in Modern Railways, page 11:

(rail transport, dated) Space to stand or store railway wagons, such as a siding.

(rail transport, dated) A demurrage charge for wagons not unloaded by the consignee within a reasonable time.

[…] enhancements at Engine Shed Junction (to give 750-metre clear standage between there and Whitehall East Junction) […]

2021 February 10, Philip Haigh, “West Yorkshire plans huge improvements to rail network”, in RAIL, number 924, page 55:

(rail transport) Room for a train to stand if necessary, e.g. between junctions.


rowport

(nautical) An opening in the side of small warships, near the surface of the water, to facilitate rowing in calm weather.


barkantine

(sailing) Alternative spelling of barquentine


double open jaw

double open jaw (plural double open jaws)

(travel, aviation) A fare construction on a single return ticket where the origin and destination of the first flight are both different from the origin and destination on the return flight.


open jaw

(travel, aviation) A fare construction where the destination is not the same as the origin point for the return, or where the origin differs from the return destination.


dry nurse

To distinguish from a wet nurse, who suckles a baby.

(nautical, slang, archaic) An inferior officer who carries on the duty on board ship, due to the captain's ignorance of seamanship.


dry nurse

en-verb

dry nurse (third-person singular simple present dry nurses, present participle dry nursing, simple past and past participle dry nursed)

dry nurses (present singular third-person)
dry nursing (participle present)
dry nursed (participle past)
dry nursed (past)

(nautical, slang, archaic) Of an inferior officer: to carry on the duty on board ship, due to the captain's ignorance of seamanship.


mind the gap

Don't tell me to mind the gap / I want my fucking money back!

2005, “London Underground”, performed by Amateur Transplants:

I once interviewed the man who made the first 'Mind the Gap' announcement: the one that reverberated for about thirty years on the Central Line at Bank, on the Bakerloo at Waterloo, and on the northbound Northern Line at Embankment.

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 220:

(rail transport) Be careful of the gap between the vehicle and the platform it is near, in boarding or alighting; wide gaps between train and platform are caused by curved tracks and platforms in some stations.

小心空隙

be careful of the gap between vehicle and platform

kérjük, vigyázzanak a be- és kiszállásnál


ploc

(nautical, historical) A mixture of hair and tar for covering the bottom of a ship.


American plan

(travel) A hotel rate that includes accommodation, breakfast, lunch and dinner.


modified American plan

(travel) A hotel rate that includes accommodation, breakfast and dinner, but not lunch.


howker

(nautical) A type of two-masted Dutch sailing vessel, weighing between 60 and 200 tons burthen.

(nautical, slang) Obsolete form of hooker (“any antiquated craft”).


MAP

en-noun

MAP (countable and uncountable, plural MAPs)

modified American plan
modified American plan#English

(travel) Initialism of modified American plan, a hotel rate that included accommodation, breakfast and dinner, but not lunch.


barrator

From Middle English baratour, from Old French barateor (“deceiver”), from Old French barater, bareter (“to deceive, cheat, barter”). Compare barter (intransitive verb).

One who abuses their office by dealing fraudulently.

(maritime, admiralty law) A ship's master who commits gross fraud or barratry.


clear away

en-verb

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

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

The schooner was run into the wind, and while the hands were clearing away the stern boat, Queequeg, stripped to the waist, darted from the side with a long living arc of a leap.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Wheelbarrow”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 68:

"Hiram Jefferson and John Moreton to the pumps!" cried the captain. "Mr. Tomlinson, clear away the long boat and let us see if we may set her right, though I fear that she is past mending."

1893, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Last Port”, in The Refugees: A Tale of Two Continents, volume III, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, part II (The New World), page 42:

Keep the ports closed, but clear away the port guns, and stand by for a broadside. Another two cable lengths and we have them.

1897, Conan Doyle, The Dealings of Captain Sharkey with Stephen Craddock:

(nautical, transitive) To prepare some object for use by removing obstacles, untying or unfastening it.


ground-effect vehicle

en-noun

ground-effect vehicle (plural ground-effect vehicles)

(aviation, nautical) An aircraft that uses aerodynamic ground effect to attain level flight near the surface of water.

ground-effect machine
ground-effect machine#English

(nautical) Synonym of ground-effect machine


storeship

(nautical, military) A vessel used to carry naval stores.

снабдителен кораб

a vessel used to carry naval stores for a fleet, garrison, etc.


muzzler

(nautical) A wind from the intended direction of the vessel.


rerail

en-verb

rerail (third-person singular simple present rerails, present participle rerailing, simple past and past participle rerailed)

rerails (present singular third-person)
rerailing (participle present)
rerailed (participle past)
rerailed (past)

At around 2130, a single wagon in a freight train derailed on a curve approaching the junction, and then rerailed as it passed over the junction.

2020 September 9, “Network News: NR earthworks maintenance measures "not effective"”, in Rail, page 10:

(rail transport, transitive) To replace on the rails.


boxhaul

boxhaul (third-person singular simple present boxhauls, present participle boxhauling, simple past and past participle boxhauled)

boxhauls (present singular third-person)
boxhauling (participle present)
boxhauled (participle past)
boxhauled (past)

(nautical, transitive, intransitive) To bring (a square-rigged ship) onto a new tack by hauling back the foresails whilst steering hard round.


wind-rode

If she is in a situation where she cannot be brought to an anchor, let go her lee anchor, which will swing her wind-rode, and relieve her from the strength of the wind

1822, Thomas Arnold, The American Practical Lunarian:

(nautical) Caused to ride or drive by the wind in opposition to the course of the tide; said of a vessel lying at anchor, with wind and tide opposed to each other.


steelie

old Mopars wearing steelies with dog dishes


gallivat

Probably from Portuguese galeota. Compare English galiot, galley.

1812, Alexander Chalmers, The General Biographical Dictionary Volume 18, on Sir William James
At one time when he had near seventy sail under his protection, he was assailed by a large fleet of Angria's frigates and gallivats […]

(nautical) A small armed vessel, with sails and oars, used on the Malabar coast.


forebeam

And herein also her forebeam to which her bowsprit was fastened, cracked clean insunder; and some of her timbers likeways in the hold we found defective.

1634 July 13, Thomas Young, Letter of Captain Thomas Young to Sir Toby Matthew:

Schooner Ketcham returned to Chicago with foretopmast gone and forebeam sprung.

1880, Annual Report of the Chief Signal Officer of the Army to the Secretary of War for the year 1879, page 753:

Turns of shock cord, securing tack to centre of forebeam, stretch as the wind increases. This allows the jib to move up, frees the halyard slightly so the tack and peak move away from forestay.

1975, Bob Ross, Introduction to Yacht Racing, page 111:

The advanced design of new cats makes pitchpoling less likely. The treacherous forebeam is gone, and the new hulls have been engineered stronger to resist twisting under stress.

1977 February, Ben Kocivar, “How to get started in hot-rod sailing”, in Popular Science, volume 210, number 2, page 111:

If using an all-chain system, then also utilise rope with the stretch in the bridle arms and have a 'lazy loop' of chain to act as a catenary between the bridle attachment and the forebeam. The minimum length of anchor line should be five times the height from the forebeam to the bottom at high tide.

2018, Gavin Le Sueur, Multihull Seamanship:

(nautical) A horizontal spar across the bow of some sailing vessels, used to stabilize the hulls of a catamaran, to secure a bowsprit, or to tie down the tack when there is no bowsprit.


counterbrace

counterbrace (third-person singular simple present counterbraces, present participle counterbracing, simple past and past participle counterbraced)

counterbraces (present singular third-person)
counterbracing (participle present)
counterbraced (participle past)
counterbraced (past)

To counterbrace the yards is to brace the head yards one way and the after yards another.

(nautical, transitive) To brace in opposite directions.


astay

(nautical) Of an anchor, such that in heaving it, an acute angle is formed between the cable and the surface of the water.


broad gauge

(rail transport) A track gauge that is greater than standard gauge.

寬軌

a railway gauge greater than the standard gauge


narrow gauge

(rail transport) A track gauge less than standard gauge.

窄軌

a railway gauge that is less than the standard gauge


heelpost

(nautical) The post supporting the outer end of a propeller shaft.


blirt

[…] and farther on he asks if the poet's resolve shall be
Struck through with the blirt
Of a goose breath?

1607, Marston, "What You Will", introduction; quoted in 1886, Alden's Cyclopedia of Universal Literature, page 98

[page 49:] The blirt was moving in, windy and wet. Somewhere out around the Forge Town headland, lightning broke over the Amnion and rain began to fall.
[page 122:] Cobbles of the traffic circus before the barbican were dry after the blirt rain, but blood smeared the stones or was draining away into the seams […]

1999, Brian Daley, To Waters' End: Book Four of GammaLAW, Lucia St. Clair Robson, →ISBN:


guest rope

(nautical) The line by which a boat makes fast to the swinging boom.


foretopgallant

(nautical) Designating the mast, sail, yard, etc., above the topmast.


QTA

Quetta railway station
w:Quetta railway station

(rail transport) The station code of Quetta railway station in Pakistan.


aftward

en-adj

aftward (comparative more aftward, superlative most aftward)

more aftward (comparative)
most aftward (superlative)

(nautical) by, near, at, or towards, the stern


lodesman

From Middle English lodesman, lodesmon, lodysman (“pilot”, literally “lode's or course's man”), alteration of earlier lodeman, from Old English lādmann (“a leader, guide”), equivalent to lode (“way, course”) + -s- + man. Compare to lodemanage.

inh

River and harbor pilotage, in English maritime affairs, is called loadmanage, from loadsman or lodesman, a kind of pilot established for the safe conduct of ships and vessels in and out of harbors, or up and down navigable rivers.

2009, Erastus C. Benedict, The American Admiralty:

For much of the Middle Ages, ships had only three ranks of seamen: master, lodesman or navigator, and mariner.

2011, Anne Crawford, Yorkist Lord: John Howard, Duke of Norfolk, c. 1425 -1485:

Such has always been the importance of preserving the life and cargo carried by ships that pilots (or 'lodesmen') have been employed for centuries as freelance mariners.

2014, Neil Jones, Paul Ridgway, Light Through a Lens:

(historical, nautical) A pilot; navigator.


ropeband

A catch had broken, and the capstan being forced round by the frightful pressure of the chains, the men, caught by the rebound, were struck violently on the head and chest. Freed from their broken rope-bands, the capstan-bars flew in all directions like grape-shot, killing four sailors, and wounding twelve others

1904, Jules-Descartes Férat (translator), Jules Verne (original), Floating City, Chapter 4:

(nautical) A small piece of spun yarn or marline, used to fasten the head of the sail to the spar.


save-all

Save-all sails I believe are commonly laced on to the foot of other sails, in light weather—she had something of this description under her lower studding sails.

1835, John Jeremie, Recent events at Mauritius, page 83:

Sloops, cutters, smacks, hoys &c. have a main-sail abaft the mast, as the brigs; upon and before the mast they have a square sail, or cross-jack; and, above the cross-jack, a small sail, called a save-all top-sail; above that is a top-sail, called a swallow-tailed top-sail, and the next is the top-gallant-sail.

1843, The Art of Sail-Making as practised in the Royal Navy, page 12:

There are a few other sails, such as a gaff-topsail, which sets over the spanker; a ring-tail, which sets abaft the spanker; a save-all, under the lower studding-sail boom, and a jib-topsail, which sets flying over the job. These are never met with now in the service.

1863, Stephen Bleecker Luce, Seamanship, page 463:

(nautical, now historical) A small sail sometimes set under the foot of another sail, to catch the wind that would pass under it.


hatchboat

(nautical, UK, historical) A type of fishing boat found mostly in southern England in the 19th century, whose deck consisted of many movable hatches.


drabbler

(nautical) A piece of canvas fastened by lacing to the bonnet of a sail, to give it a greater depth or more drop.


billethead

we painted her on the outside, giving her open ports in her streak, and finishing off the nice work upon the stern, where sat Neptune in his car, holding his trident, drawn by sea-horses; and re-touched the gilding and coloring of the cornucopia which ornamented her billet-head.

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

(nautical) A carved wooden decoration, usually at the bow of a vessel, generally smaller than a figurehead


iron-sick

en-adj

iron-sick (comparative more iron-sick, superlative most iron-sick)

more iron-sick (comparative)
most iron-sick (superlative)

(nautical) Denoting ironwork that loose or corroded; said of a ship where the bolts and nails are so degraded with rust as to cause leaks.


TNA

Thane railway station
w:Thane railway station

(rail transport) The station code of Thane railway station in India.


non-op

From non- + op (“operation; operator; operational; operative; operating”).

af

About 200000 "non-op" workers - clerks, telegraphers, machinists, and others not actually involved in operation of the roads - are not union members.

1951 December 12, “Nonoperating Rail Unions Ask Wage-Contract Support”, in Christian Science Monitor:

(rail transport) Nonoperating; not directly involved in the mechanical operation of trains.


non-op

For example, in the fall of 1973, when we had a rail strike, the government brought in legislation putting the non-ops back to work at an increase of only 30 cents an hour […]

1980, Jack Horner, My Own Brand, Hurtig Publishers, →ISBN:

(rail transport) A nonoperator; a rail worker not directly involved in the mechanical operation of trains.


chelandion

From Ancient Greek χελάνδιον (khelándion).

(historical, nautical) a Byzantine bireme used primarily for cargo transport


dromon

(historical, nautical) A Byzantine bireme, similar to the chelandion, but used primarily for naval combat.


rudderhead

(nautical) The upper part of the rudderstock, to which a tiller is attached.


forestaff

en-noun

forestaff (plural forestaffs or forestaves)

with a Forestaff, take the Altitude of the North Star

1722, Andrew Wakely, The Mariner's Compass:

(nautical) An instrument formerly used at sea for taking the altitudes of heavenly bodies, later replaced by the sextant.


tongkang

(nautical, historical) A kind of light wooden boat used in the early 19th century to carry goods along rivers in Maritime Southeast Asia.


skullfish

(nautical, whaling, obsolete) A whale more than two years old.


wung-out

(nautical, slang) Having the sails set in the manner called wing and wing.


atrip

The captain's anchor is pretty nigh atrip; I shouldn't wonder if he croaked afore morning.

1847 March 30, Herman Melville, Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC:

(nautical, of an anchor) Just clear of the ground.

(nautical, of sails) Sheeted home, hoisted taut up and ready for trimming.

(nautical, of yards) Hoisted up and ready to be swayed across.


crankness

(nautical) Liability to be overset; said of a ship or other vessel.


gallied

en-adj

gallied (comparative more gallied, superlative most gallied)

more gallied (comparative)
most gallied (superlative)

Best, therefore, withhold any amazement at the strangely gallied whales before us, for there is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 87, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

(nautical) worried; flurried; frightened


TPE

Transpennine Express
w:Transpennine Express

(UK, rail transport) Abbreviation of Transpennine Express.


cubbridge-head

(nautical) A bulkhead on the forecastle and halfdeck of a ship.


halfdeck

(nautical) The portion of the deck next below the spar deck which is between the mainmast and the cabin.


forereach

en-verb

forereach (third-person singular simple present forereaches, present participle forereaching, simple past and past participle forereached)

forereaches (present singular third-person)
forereaching (participle present)
forereached (participle past)
forereached (past)

(nautical, intransitive) To shoot ahead, especially when going in stays.

(nautical, transitive) To advance or gain upon; said of a vessel that gains upon another when sailing close-hauled.


lodemanage

Court of Lodemanage ― a court which sat at Dover to appoint pilots of the Cinque Ports


luffer

So even if the luffer to leeward does react quickly enough in the stopping of his boat, he'll also have to start going bacckwards to prevent you breaking away and going for the mark ahead of him.

1975, Yacht Racing - Volume 14, page 38:

The obsessive luffer seems to want a threat to windward for the sheer pleasure of upholding the right to luff, even though a luff almost always costs more places than it saves.

2013, Eric Twiname, Start to Win, page 107:

Some lost places at training events are worthwhile to enhance your reputation as a luffer—you can buy the poor windward boat a beer later!

(sailing, yacht racing) One who luffs (sails close to the wind) in order to threaten a windward opponent.


TIR

(road transport, international law) The Convention on International Transport of Goods Under Cover of TIR Carnets.


gangboard

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

compound

(nautical) A board or plank used as a temporary footbridge between a ship and a dockside or any gap such as scaffolding.

loopplank

board used as a temporary footbridge between a ship and a dockside

The brigantine's yawl under the port gangboard was put over, and three volunteers offered to row for help.

2005, Edward Rowe Snow, Jeremy D'Entremont, William Quinn, Storms and Shipwrecks of New England, Applewood Books, →ISBN, page 45:

(nautical) A board or plank placed within or without the bulwarks of a vessel's waist for lookouts to walk or stand on.


magged

en-adj

magged (comparative more magged, superlative most magged)

more magged (comparative)
most magged (superlative)

a magged brace


reef point

(nautical) A short line, stitched through a sail, for tying a reef


woolding

(nautical) The act of winding or wrapping anything with a rope.

(nautical) A rope used for binding masts and spars.


skysail

(nautical) On historical square-rigged ships, the sail above the royal. Normally it is the uppermost sail, but in some cases it is below the moonraker.


houseline

[…]marled on to the sail with marline or houseline, as far as it is sewed

1796, David Steel, The Art of Sail-making, as Practised in the Royal Navy:

(nautical) A small line of three strands used for seizing.


pleyt

From Middle Dutch pleyt (“flat”). Doublet of flat and plat.

In the second group a variety of ships may be placed: a boeyer, a pleyt, a krayer, an ever, a cogge, a bark, a hulk, and from the middle of the 15th century onwards a carvel.

1954, Nelly Johanna Martina Kerling, Commercial Relations of Holland and Zeeland with England from the Late 13th Century to the Close of the Middle Ages:

The model on display belongs to the family of the "pleyt" or "pleitscip"."

2011, Money and Beauty, Giunti Editore, →ISBN, page 186:


swabber

(nautical, historical) An interior officer on British warships, responsible for seeing that the ship was kept clean.


laveer

en-verb

laveer (third-person singular simple present laveers, present participle laveering, simple past and past participle laveered)

laveers (present singular third-person)
laveering (participle present)
laveered (participle past)
laveered (past)

But those that 'gainst stiff Gales laveering go
Must be at once resolv'd and skilful too.

(nautical, obsolete) To beat against the wind; to tack.


thurrock

From Middle English thurrok, from Old English þurruc (“hold of a ship; bilge”), from Proto-West Germanic *þurruk, from Proto-Indo-European *terg-, *terǵ- (“to rub, wipe, clean, make holes”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian durk (“sewer, bilge-water, lowest part in the hold of a ship”), Middle Dutch durck, dorck (“the hold of a ship”) (Dutch durk, dork (“a spout-hole”)), Middle Low German dork (“keel room, the lowest part of a ship's hold”), Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌺𐍉 (þairkō, “hole, eye (of a needle)”), Latin tergō, tergeō (“wipe, scour, clean”, verb), Old English þurh, þuruh (“through”). More at through, thorough.

cog

(nautical, obsolete) The hold of a ship; also, the bilge.


gunter rig

(nautical) a rigging configuration consiting of a fore and aft sail set abaft (behind) the mast. The lower half of the luff (front) of the sail is attached to the mast, and the upper half is fastened to a spar which is approximately vertical and reaches above the top of the mast, in such a way that the yard can slide up and down the lower mast.


woolder

(nautical) A stick used to tighten the rope in woolding.

(ropemaking) One of the handles of the top, formed by a wooden pin passing through it.


trestletree

For, besides one of the bibs being defective, the larboard trestletree, and one of the cross-trees were sprung

1813, William Fordyce Mavor, Cook's 3rd Voyage:

(nautical) One of two strong bars of timber, fixed horizontally on the opposite sides of the masthead to support the crosstrees and the frame of the top.


spirketing

en-noun

spirketing (countable and uncountable, plural spirketings)

At some point on the upper edge of the gun-deck spirketing, a shore, that is, the truss, firmly cleated at its heel , extended upwards and aft

1840, Augustin Francis Bullock Creuze, Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Naval Architecture:

(nautical) The planking from the waterways up to the portsills.


patamar

In may 1831, I proceeded from Bombay to Panoovellee in a small Patamar, I sailed in the afternoon and arrived there before day break, I paid for the whole Patamar five Rupees, but a boat usually sails every day from Bombay to Panoovellee at the cost of a quarter of a Rupee for each person, […]

1832, David D'Beth Hillel, The Travels of Rabbi David D'Beth Hillel: From Jerusalem, Through Arabia, Koordistan, Part of Persia, and India to Madras, page 138:

(nautical) A sailing vessel resembling a grab, formerly used in the coasting trade of Bombay and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).


NUC

neutral unit of construction
w:neutral unit of construction

(aviation, travel) Initialism of neutral unit of construction.


shallow-waisted

en-adj

shallow-waisted (comparative more shallow-waisted, superlative most shallow-waisted)

more shallow-waisted (comparative)
most shallow-waisted (superlative)

(nautical) Having a flush deck, or with only a moderate depression amidships; said of a vessel.


sternage

Grapple your minds to sternage of this navy,
And leave your England as dead midnight still.

1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, prologue], lines 18-19:

(obsolete, nautical) The stern of a vessel.


topcloth

(nautical) A piece of canvas used to cover the hammocks which are lashed to the top in action to protect the topmen.


bilander

Borrowed from Dutch bijlander, equivalent to by- + lander. See also belandre.

Why choose we, then, like bilanders to creep / Along the coast, and land in view to keep?

1687, [John Dryden], “(please specify the page number)”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:

it being fine weather , all the bilanders and fiſhing boats , that had returned after the first imbarkation, into the harbour, went out again with another body of troops

March 1744, Scots Magazine, and Edinburgh Literary Miscellany:

(nautical, historical) A small two-masted merchant vessel, fitted only for coasting, or for use in canals, as in Holland.


tide-rode

To cast a ship when tide-rode with the wind ahead, the same practice must be followed with the sails, as to cast a ship when wind-rode and no current.

1822, Thomas Arnold, The American Practical Lunarian:

It is advisable to moor, as vessels are always tide rode

1943, United States Hydrographic Office, Sailing Directions for the Coast of China:

Freighters and tankers are anchored in the busy basin too, often tide-rode, their anchor chains bar tight and seeming eager to cut you in half as wind and tide drive you down on them.

(nautical) Swung by the tide when anchored.


stemson

See stem and keelson, and compare sternson.

(nautical) A piece of curved timber bolted to the stem, keelson, and apron in a ship's frame near the bow.


stakehead

(ropemaking) A horizontal bar on a stake, used for supporting the yarns which are kept apart by pins in the bar.