chesstree

(nautical) Either of two pieces of oak fitted to the topsides of a square-rigged vessel on each side of the bow through which the bowlines were fed; often decoratively carved


DSC

en-noun

DSC (countable and uncountable, plural DSCs)

(nautical, radio telephony) Initialism of digital selective call, a feature that allows a VHF radio to call another VHF selectively (as opposed to a call that is repeated by all receivers that are on within the range of the caller).


black spot

Indian Queens is a hamlet just off the A30, a well-known traffic black spot, and Yellowknife was Margo Kidder's hometown in Canada.

2019, Will Birch, Cruel To Be Kind: The Life and Music of Nick Lowe, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

(transport) A section of roadway that has been designated as being particularly accident-prone.


poling boat

(nautical) Any small boat, such as a punt, propelled using a long pole.


passenger car

(rail transport, US) A railroad car designed to carry passengers.

personvogn

(vehicles) A motor vehicle designed to carry (a few) passengers; a motorcar.


clump block

(nautical) A thick, strong single block.


clear view screen

clear view screen (plural clear view screens)

(nautical) A circular disc of plate glass, set into the screen of a ship's bridge and spun at high speed by an electric motor in heavy rain or snow; it offers a clear view forward.


club haul

en-verb

club haul (third-person singular simple present club hauls, present participle club hauling, simple past and past participle club hauled)

club hauls (present singular third-person)
club hauling (participle present)
club hauled (participle past)
club hauled (past)

(nautical) To tack a square-rigged sailing ship in a narrow space by using a lee anchor to turn the ship.


lee shore

(nautical) A shore towards which the wind is blowing, and to which there is the danger of being driven.


choke the luff

choke the luff (third-person singular simple present chokes the luff, present participle choking the luff, simple past and past participle choked the luff)

chokes the luff (present singular third-person)
choking the luff (participle present)
choked the luff (participle past)
choked the luff (past)

(nautical) To temporarily stop the movement of a rope through a block by jamming the sheave with the hauling rope; a pull on the rope releases it.


coachwhipping

(nautical) a form of decorative square sennit work used for covering stanchions


claw ring

(nautical) A fitting on the boom of a yacht to take the main sheet when roller reefing is used.


coastal motor boat

en-noun

coastal motor boat (plural coastal motor boats)

(nautical) a small warship used in the Royal Navy during the First World War that carried torpedoes, mines or depth charges.


clove hitch

(nautical) a bend formed by two half hitches in the same direction, used to make a line fast to a spar or to a larger rope; it will not slip


claw off

en-verb

claw off (third-person singular simple present claws off, present participle clawing off, simple past and past participle clawed off)

claws off (present singular third-person)
clawing off (participle present)
clawed off (participle past)
clawed off (past)

(nautical, intransitive) To beat to windward to avoid being driven on to a lee shore.


close quarter

Originally closed quarter (“section or area”).

(nautical) any of several strong wooden barriers erected across the deck of a merchant sailing ship, having loopholes through which muskets could be fired to resist boarding attacks


clean slate

(nautical) A slate on which the courses steered by a ship (and distances run) were recorded, but have been wiped clean after being entered in the log at the end of a watch.


coach horse

(nautical, slang) A member of the crew who rowed the admiral's barge or a state barge


chubasco

/tʃuːˈbɑːskəʊ/

Borrowed from Spanish chubasco (“downpour”), from Portuguese chuva (“rain”), from Latin pluvia (“rain”).

bor+

(nautical) A violent squall with thunder and lightning, encountered during the rainy season along the Pacific coast of Central America and South America.


clap on

en-verb

clap on (third-person singular simple present claps on, present participle clapping on, simple past and past participle clapped on)

claps on (present singular third-person)
clapping on (participle present)
clapped on (participle past)
clapped on (past)

We spring out of our berths, clap on a monkey-jacket and south-wester, and tumble up the ladder.

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, transitive) To temporarily add something to an existing part, especially to add an additional sail to take advantage of a fair wind.


coak

en-noun

coak (countable and uncountable, plural coaks)

Uncertain. The 1933 Oxford English Dictionary suggests a possible relation to an Old French cognate of Italian cocca (“notch”), to English cock or to cauk, caulk ("drive oakum between planks"), "all referring to the fitting of a projection into a notch, indentation, or hollow".

(nautical) The brass bearing in the sheave of a block.


Yukon

From Gwich'in ųųg han, contraction of chųų gąįį han (“white water river”). See Wikipedia's name section for details.


niggerhead

niggerhead (countable and uncountable, plural niggerheads)

From nigger + head, reflecting a supposed resemblance to a black person's head.

(nautical, dated, now offensive) A bollard made from an old cannon.


magnetic bearing

magnetic bearing (plural magnetic bearings)

(nautical, navigation) Directional bearing relative to the nearest magnetic pole, as shown by a compass.


magnetic variation

magnetic variation (countable and uncountable, plural magnetic variations)

(military, nautical, navigation) In navigation, at a given place and time, the horizontal angle between the true north and magnetic north measured east or west according to whether magnetic north lies east or west of true north.


clipper

Dutch: (nautical) klipper, klipperaak m or f

From Middle Dutch klepper and Middle English clippen, from Old English clyppan, from Proto-Germanic *klupjaną.

Something that moves swiftly; especially:

(nautical) Any of several forms of very fast sailing ships having a long, low hull and a sharply raked stem.


magnetic compass

magnetic compass (plural magnetic compasses)

(military, nautical) An instrument containing a freely suspended magnetic element which displays the direction of the horizontal component of the Earth’s magnetic field at the point of observation.


batten

The noun is from Middle English bataunt, batent (“finished bar or board (as for panelling)”), from Old French batent (“a beating”), a noun use of the present participle form of batre (“to beat, hit, strike”), from Late Latin battere, the present active infinitive of battō (“to beat”), from Latin battuō (“(very rare) to beat, hit, strike”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ-, *bʰedʰh₂- (“to pierce; to stab”) or *bʰat- (“to hit”), ultimately onomatopoeic.
The verb is derived from the noun.

der

The next morning, we took the battens from the hatches, and opened the ship.

1840, R[ichard] H[enry] D[ana], Jr., chapter XXIX, in Two Years before the Mast. […] (Harper’s Family Library; no. CVI), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], →OCLC, page 326:

She was too sick to get out of bed, and he was not able to hoist her up without assistance; […] we were permitted to come in and hoist her ladyship up again to the battens.

1840, [Frederick] Marryat, “In which, Like Most People, who Tell Their Own Stories, I Begin with the Histories of Other People”, in Poor Jack. […], London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans, […], →OCLC, page 6:

In carvel construction, the planks which cover the sides of the vessel lie alongside one another without overlapping and the seams are calked. Where the construction is too light to admit calking, a narrow batten or ribband is run along the seams inside.

1972 September 1, “Basic Construction of Small Boats and Ships”, in Marine Crewman’s Handbook (Technical Manual; 55-501), Washington, D.C.: Headquarters, Department of the Army, →OCLC, section II (The Construction of Small Boats), page 12-3:

(nautical) A long, narrow strip, originally of wood but now also of fibreglass, metal, etc., used for various purposes aboard a ship; especially one attached to a mast or spar for protection, one holding down the edge of a tarpaulin covering a hatch to prevent water from entering the hatch, one inserted in a pocket sewn on a sail to keep it flat, or one from which a hammock is suspended.

лати

long, narrow strip used for various purposes aboard a ship


batten

en-verb

batten (third-person singular simple present battens, present participle battening, simple past and past participle battened)

battens (present singular third-person)
battening (participle present)
battened (participle past)
battened (past)

Nail down the lid; caulk the seams; pay over the same with pitch; batten them down tight, and hang it with the snap-spring over the ship's stern. Were ever such things done before with a coffin?

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Life-buoy”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 580:

(chiefly nautical) Chiefly followed by down: to fasten or secure (a hatch, opening, etc.) using battens (noun sense 2.2).

kiinnittää latoilla

to fasten or secure (a hatch, etc.) using battens


peapod

A thick-shouldered boy in yellow oil pants and a duck-billed cap rowed by in a peapod, so close to the rockweed he would have seen her if he'd looked up.

1954, Elisabeth Ogilvie, The Dawning of the Day, Down East Books, published 2014, page 52:

(nautical) A small rowboat traditionally used for fishing and lobstering in Maine.


quilting

en-noun

quilting (countable and uncountable, plural quiltings)

(nautical, archaic) A coating of strands of rope for a water vessel.


slip coach

Slip-coach workings on the Western Region, the last stronghold of this practice, are now reduced to two daily - at Didcot off the 7.0 a.m. Weston-super-Mare-Paddington; and at Bicester (Saturdays excepted) off the 5.10 p.m. Paddington-Wolverhampton.

1960 February, “Talking of Trains: The vanishing slip-coach”, in Trains Illustrated, page 72:

Friday, September 9, saw the last of the slip coach in Great Britain; the location was Bicester, and the train was the 5.10 p.m. from Paddington to Wolverhampton, which from September 12 began to stop there instead.

1960 October, “Talking of Trains: The last of the slip coach”, in Trains Illustrated, page 577:

(rail transport) A coach at the end of a long-distance train which carries passengers for an intermediate destination and is decoupled or "slipped" and left behind. (In bygone times the decoupling was done on the move; the rest of the train did not stop.)


scantlings

(nautical) The dimensions of the timbers of a ship


sonobuoy

(nautical, military) A buoy that sends a radio signal when it detects the sound of underwater objects (such as submarines).


nettles

(nautical) Small lengths of cord attached to a sail, used to secure the excess fabric after reefing; reef points


CRS

CRS (countable and uncountable, plural CRSs)

central reservation system
w:central reservation system

computer reservation system
w:computer reservation system

(computing, aviation, travel) Initialism of central reservation system or computer reservation system.


tabling

On the luffs and after leaches of jibs the tabling ought to be 3 inches, on the foot 1 inches

1867, James Grange, Hints to young shipmasters in drafting and cutting ships' rigging and sails:

(nautical) A broad hem on the edge of a sail.


codline

(nautical) a small line made of eighteen threads, once used for cod fishing, and subsequently in place of rope for delicate work onboard ship


cod-banger

(obsolete, nautical) A 19th century vessel used to fish for cod using codlines


collision mat

(nautical) A large square of canvas, treated with a sealing agent and attached to lines at each corner; hauled over a damaged part of the hull to limit the inflow of water


collision bulkhead

collision bulkhead (plural collision bulkheads)

(nautical) A strong, watertight transverse bulkhead in the fore part of a ship to prevent water flowing aft in the event of a collision


wardroom

There were only about a dozen officers in the great wardroom, six of them in the khaki gabardine working uniform of the U.S. Navy.

1957, Neville Shute, chapter 1, in On the Beach, New York: William Morrow & Co:

(nautical) The living quarters of a ship designated for the commissioned officers other than the captain.

The captain rarely referred to his wardroom for advice, and this resulted in their discontent.

[…] it having also reached the ears of the Ward-room that the work contained reflections somewhat derogatory to the dignity of the officers, the volume was seized by the master-at-arms, armed with a warrant from the Captain.

1850, Herman Melville, chapter 11, in White-Jacket, New York: Harper, published 1855, page 56:

(nautical) The commissioned officers of a ship, excluding the captain.


cocked hat

cocked hat (countable and uncountable, plural cocked hats)

(nautical) The triangular space formed by the intersection of the position lines on a chart determined by plotting three bearings; the approximate position of the ship


helmsman

(nautical) A member of a ship's crew who is responsible for steering.


forestay

From Middle English forstay, forstey, vorstey, equivalent to fore- + stay (“a stay, rope”).

(nautical) A stay that extends from the top of the foremast to the bow or bowsprit of a sailing ship


bottomry

bottomry (countable and uncountable, plural bottomries)

Section 10 states that, ‘The lender of money on bottomry and respondentia has an insurable interest in respect of the loan’. A lender on ‘bottomry’ is, as its name suggests, a person who advances money to a shipowner on the security of (the bottom [of]) the ship.

1996, Susan Hodges, Law Of Marine Insurance, page 19:

1999 [1880], John Bouvier, Daniel A. Gleason, Institutes of American Law, Volume 1, New Edition, page 309,
There is much resemblance between bottomry and insurance. In one, the lender takes the risks, and in the other, the insurer. […] If these contracts resemble each other, there are also many differences between them. In bottomry, the lender actually furnishes a certain sum of money; in insurance, the insurer furnishes nothing; on the contrary, he receives a premium, which is frequently paid to him at the time of the agreement, but which when it is not paid in cash is a claim which he may assign, or for which he may procure a guaranty.

25. The supercargo Colin Campbell, for example, mentioned in 1732 that the first Dutch supercargo Schultz was secretly investing in the bottomry market.

2005, Paul Arthur Van Dyke, The Canton Trade: Life And Enterprise on the China Coast, 1700-1845, footnote, page 225:

(nautical) An early form of maritime contract in which the owner of a ship could borrow money using the ship as collateral.


mainmast

O, the most piteous cry of the poor souls! sometimes to see ’em, and not to see ’em; now the ship boring the moon with her main-mast, and anon swallowed with yest and froth, as you’ld thrust a cork into a hogshead.

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

Then turning to his first Minister, who waited behind him with a white Staff near as tall as the Main-mast of the Royal Soveraign, he observed how contemptible a thing was human Grandeur, which could be mimicked by such diminutive Insects as I […]

1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “A Great Storm Described, the Long-Boat Sent to Fetch Water, the Author Goes with It to Discover the Country. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part II (A Voyage to Brobdingnag), page 58:

When we were in the latitude of Martinico, and near making the land, one morning we had a brisk gale of wind, and, carrying too much sail, the main-mast went over the side.

1789, Olaudah Equiano, chapter 11, in The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano:

The try-works are planted between the foremast and mainmast, the most roomy part of the deck.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 96, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

[…] skating farther than their wont that day they reached that part of the river where the ships had anchored and been frozen in midstream. Among them was the ship of the Muscovite Embassy flying its double-headed black eagle from the main mast, which was hung with many-coloured icicles several yards in length.

1928, Virginia Woolf, Orlando: A Biography, London: The Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished as Orlando: A Biography (eBook no. 0200331h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, July 2015:

(nautical) The tallest mast of a sailing ship that has more than one mast; particularly a full-rigged ship.

(nautical) The second-foremost mast of a non-sailing ship with more than one mast.


heeling

heeling (countable and uncountable, plural heelings)

One reason why a ship will not sail close-hauled on even keel with helm amidships, is that the masts are too far aft, and this may be proved by a “stiff ship” going “upon a wind” five or six knots an hour without perceptible heelings, […]

1871, The Nautical Magazine, volume 40, page 405:

(nautical) An inclination to one side; a tilt.


vang

Borrowed from Dutch vangen (“to catch”). Ultimately a doublet of etymology one.

Having the vang and the Cunningham in the right spot can be beneficial.

2013, Frank Bethwaite, Fast Handling Technique, page 141:

(nautical) A line extended down from the end of a gaff, used to regulate its position


vang

en-verb

vang (third-person singular simple present vangs, present participle vanging, simple past and past participle vanged)

vangs (present singular third-person)
vanging (participle present)
vanged (participle past)
vanged (past)

On a catamaran, the curved track has enough beam to allow the mainsheet to vang the boom throughout its entire arc.

The Patented Hoyt Jib Boom adds to offwind speed by vanging the jib and acting as a built in whisker pole.

1999 January, Cruising World, volume 25, number 1, page 80:

We needed to vang the main, pull it down to flatten it, and make it more efficient.

2018, Henry R. Danielson, Island People: Finding Our Way:

(sailing) To flatten the sail and regulate its position with such a line.


head-up display

en-noun

head-up display (plural head-up displays)

(nautical) A type of radar or electronic chart display where the top of the display always represents the direction the vessel is heading.


cockscomb

From Middle English cokkes comb; equivalent to cock + -s- + comb.

(nautical) A serrated cleat once fitted to the yards of a square-rigged ship and used when the sail was being reefed


PHEV

plug-in hybrid electric vehicle
w:plug-in hybrid

(automotive) Initialism of plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.

battery electric vehicle with range extender

plug-in hybrid electric vehicle with long electric range


fore-and-aft

(nautical, of the orientation of the sails of a ship) parallel with the keel, that is, going from bow to stern (as opposed to square-rigged).


windjammer

→ Dutch: windjammer

→ Russian: винджа́ммер (vindžámmer)

From wind + jammer? The nautical senses were originally used contemptuously by sailors on steam vessels.

(nautical) A sailing ship; especially a large, iron-hulled, square-rigged ship with three or more masts.

(nautical) A member of the crew of a ship of this kind.


composite built

(nautical, of a ship) Having wooden planks on a metal frame.


companion ladder

companion ladder (plural companion ladders)

Just as I got my head above the companion ladder, I felt an indescribably unpleasant sensation, suddenly, as it were, losing the power of breathing […] .

1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 87

The flat roof proved a great luxury, for we sat on our housetop at night, which we reached by a species of companion-ladder from below, and enjoyed our elevated position immensely.

1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 112:

(nautical) Either of two ladders leading from the raised quarterdeck of a sailing ship to the upper deck.


take the con

en-verb

take the con (third-person singular simple present takes the con, present participle taking the con, simple past took the con, past participle taken the con)

takes the con (present singular third-person)
taking the con (participle present)
took the con (past)
taken the con (participle past)

Coordinate term: take the helm

Mr. Renner, take the con!" Jolt meters swung before the acceleration alarms; Renner must have set up the course in advance and slapped the keys the instant he was given control.

1974, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, The Mote in God's Eye:

(nautical, literal) To take over navigational duties on the bridge of a ship.


conning tower

(nautical) The armoured control tower of an early iron warship from which the ship was navigated in battle.

I waited until half an hour after Benson had gone on duty, and then I went on deck, passing through the conning-tower where Benson sat, and looking at the compass. It showed that our course was north by west--that is, one point west of north, which was, for our assumed position, about right.

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

(nautical) A connecting structure between the bridge and pressure hull of a submarine; in larger, modern submarines it contains the captain's cabin and is known as the sail.


sounder

(nautical) A device for making soundings at sea.

(nautical) A person who takes soundings.


cuntline

A waxed line is middled, and a loose loop laid around one strand, then both ends are brought out at the opposite cuntline.

Ashley Book Of Knots, knot number 3448 (page 547)


contline

(nautical) The spiral groove between the strands of a rope.

(nautical) The space between casks stowed side by side.


Continental Navy

(nautical, historical) The United States Navy between 1775 and 1794.


coppered

en-adj

coppered (comparative more coppered, superlative most coppered)

more coppered (comparative)
most coppered (superlative)

(nautical) (of the hull of a wooden ship) sheathed below the waterline with thin sheets of copper to prevent the attack of teredo shipworms and limit the buildup of weed


dynamometer car

en-noun

dynamometer car (plural dynamometer cars)

Wide open, a 4000 consumed up to 22 tons of coal and 100,000 pounds of water an hour and produced in one authenticated dynamometer-car test 6290 drawbar horsepower at 41.4 miles per hour.

1959, Steam's Finest Hour, edited by David P. Morgan, Kalmbach Publishing Co., referring to the Union Pacific "Big Boy" 4-8-8-4

More trials of diesel locomotives with fitted mineral trains have been observed. On October 31 a Brush Type 2, No. D5834, was seen on the Doncaster-Scunthorpe line with dynamometer car and 32 loaded wagons.

1963 January, “Motive power miscellany”, in Modern Railways, page 64:

(rail transport) A piece of railway rolling stock used to measure various aspects of a locomotive's performance.


cargo vessel

(nautical) Any vessel designed to carry cargo.


coracle

Of Celtic origin; related to Welsh corwg, Irish curach (“boat”) and Cornish gorhel (“ship”), from Proto-Celtic *kurukos (“boat”).

(nautical) A small circular or oblong boat made of wickerwork and made watertight with hides or pitch, propelled and steered with a single paddle and light enough to be carried on a person's back.


bulk carrier

Otherwise, overseas coking coal will be moved to the UK by bulk ocean carrier, which are among the filthiest polluting objects on the face of the Earth we seek to protect.

2022 November 16, Nigel Harris, “Endless news... little context”, in RAIL, number 970, page 3:

(nautical) Any ocean-going cargo vessel (merchant ship) designed to carry unpackaged bulk cargo, such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils and cement, in its holds.


caracca

Christopher Columbus used to glance at caraccas waiting ashore when he was a young boy.

(nautical, historical) A 16th-century Portuguese armed merchant ship.


container ship

Coordinate term: TEU

(nautical) A cargo vessel designed to carry cargo prepacked into containers, especially shipping containers.


tafferel

From Dutch tafereel (“panel, picture”), diminutive of tafel (“table”), from Latin tabula (“table”).

(nautical) The flat upper part of a ship's stern above the transom, often decorated with carvings.

A true Chinese junk is a great curiosity; the model must have been taken originally from a bread-trough, being broad and square at both ends—when light, (I speak of a large one,) it is full thirty feet from the surface of the water to the tafferel, or the highest part of the poop.

1837, Edmund Roberts, chapter XVIII, in Embassy to the eastern courts of Cochin-China, Siam, and Muscat in the U. S. sloop-of-war Peacock, David Geisinger, Commander, during the years 1832-3-4, New York: Harper & Brothers, page 272:

Yet we should oftener look over the tafferel of our craft, like curious passengers, and not make the voyage like stupid sailors picking oakum.

1854, Henry David Thoreau, chapter XVIII, in Walden, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co, published 1910, pages 422–3:


staithe

From Old English stæþ and/or Old Norse stöð (“harbor”).

(UK, rail transport) An installation built at the railside or nearby for the storage of coal unloaded from wagons.


Costain gun

(nautical) A gun that fired a small rocket with a line attached, used to rig a breeches buoy.


cow hitch

(nautical) Any knot which is not a recognised maritime knot as used at sea.


corpsman

The corpsman prescribed Motrin to the sick marine for his symptoms.

(US, military, nautical) A hospital corpsman.


crance

(nautical) An iron band, at the end of a bowsprit, fitted with eyes to take the bowsprit shrouds and the bobstay


cross-jack yard

cross-jack yard (plural cross-jack yards)

(nautical) The lower yard on the mizenmast of a square-rigged ship


cross sea

The swells of the waves, when they meet at right angles, form cross shapes.

(nautical) A (dangerous) sea with two wave systems traveling at oblique angles, due to the wind over it shifting direction or the waves of two storm systems meeting.


crossing the line

(nautical) A ceremony performed on board ship when members of the crew or passengers cross the equator for the first time.


cringle

"Lower till that rope-loop […] till the cringle was down on the boom. Then I'd tie her up the way you said, and then I'd hoist up the peak and throat halyards again."

1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous:

(nautical) A short piece of rope, arranged as a grommet around a metal ring, used to attach tackle to a sail etc.


cringle

en-verb

cringle (third-person singular simple present cringles, present participle cringling, simple past and past participle cringled)

cringles (present singular third-person)
cringling (participle present)
cringled (participle past)
cringled (past)

(nautical, transitive) To fasten or attach with a cringle.


grapnel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 2:

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

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

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

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


grapnel

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

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

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


can opener

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

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


eking

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

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


fishing space

It offers a greater moment of inertia than the strap type for small rails with limited fishing space.

1982, William W. Hay, Railroad Engineering, page 566:

(rail transport) The space between the base and head of a rail in which a rigid steel bar is placed.


EMU

en-noun

EMU (countable and uncountable, plural EMUs)

The Government has thrown a lifeline to Alstom's Derby Works, with an offer of an order for ten Class 345 nine-car electric multiple units (EMUs) for the Elizabeth line - but only if the 'price is right'.

2024 May 1, Mel Holley, “Network News: Elizabeth line '345s' offer a lifeline for Derby Works”, in RAIL, number 1008, page 8:

electric multiple unit
electric multiple unit

(rail transport, countable) Initialism of electric multiple unit.

(automotive engineering) Initialism of engine management unit.


go large

en-verb

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

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

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


redline

redline (third-person singular simple present redlines, present participle redlining, simple past and past participle redlined)

redlines (present singular third-person)
redlining (participle present)
redlined (participle past)
redlined (past)

From red + line, originating with the frequent use of red pen or pencil to mark corrections on drawings and documents (1), and the red markings on a tachometer (2).

To operate a device at one or more redlines.

(automotive) To run an internal combustion engine to its maximum or maximum recommended speed.


crosstree

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

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

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


crow's nest

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

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

vraní hnízdo

open-top shelter atop the foremast for a lookout


fast track

(rail transport) A racetrack with optimum conditions for high speeds

(rail transport) A railroad for express trains.


hot shift

(historical, US, automotive) An early mechanism that synchronized the speeds of gear wheels when changing gear in an automobile.


umiak

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

der

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

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

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


snowmobile

(vehicles) A vehicle with skis at the front and a caterpillar track at the rear, used for travelling over snow, sometimes as sport.


hounding

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


hogging

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

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


valance

From Middle English valance, valans, valaunce, valence, valons. Origin uncertain. Probably from Anglo-Norman valaunce, valence, from valer (“go down, let down”), aphetic form of Old French avaler (“to descend, go down”).

(automotive) A low-hanging auto body panel, below a front or rear bumper, whose purpose is aerodynamic and decorative but not structural (often valance panel).


billboard

→ Polish: billboard

أَفِيش

large advertisement along side of highway

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


dead in the water

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

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

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


jump ship

en-verb

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

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

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

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


necked

(nautical, archaic, of a treenail) Cracked.


brights

From bright (adjective) + -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum).

suffix

Your brights are on.

Drop your brights as soon as approaching lights appear.

1963 July, Morton J. Schultz, “Keeping Your Headlights on the Beam”, in Popular Mechanics, →ISSN, page 161:

You can turn your brights on and that helps quite a bit, but you can not leave them on. So you end up driving beyond your headlights more than half the time.

2004 July 18, Rocky Roads, “Re: big rig out of control (Photo)”, in misc.transport.trucking (Usenet), message-ID <cdearo$ufn@library2.airnews.net>:

The moment I flashed my brights this animal started to run across the road.

2006 March 31, Linda S. Godfrey, Hunting the American Werewolf: Beast Men in Wisconsin and Beyond, Madison: Trails Books, →ISBN, →OL, page 139:

(US, road transport) Synonym of high-beams.


forrad

(dialectal, chiefly nautical) Alternative spelling of forrard.


GDI

gasoline direct injection
w:en:gasoline direct injection

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


channeled

en-adj

channeled (comparative more channeled, superlative most channeled)

more channeled (comparative)
most channeled (superlative)

He later bought a '33 Ford coupe, chopped and channeled it and installed a Mercury engine.

1958, Charles Beaumont, William F. Nolan, Omnibus of Speed: An Introduction to the World of Motor Sport, Putnam, page 183:

(automotive, slang) Of a vehicle: having the height reduced by lowering the body with respect to the frame rails.


washboard

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

zetbord

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


wiper

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


segment

From Latin segmentum (“a piece cut off, a strip, segment of the earth, a strip of tinsel”), from secāre (“to cut”).

der

(travel) A portion of an itinerary: it may be a flight or train between two cities, or a car or hotel booked in a particular city.


parcels

An unusual visitor to Leeds on September 26 was Class 4 4-6-0 No. 75042 (17A), on a Class H goods from York; it soon returned on the 6.30 p.m. Leeds-York parcels.

1962 December, “Motive Power Miscellany: North Eastern Region”, in Modern Railways, page 425:

(rail transport, UK, dated, in the plural) A parcels train, normally carrying nothing but parcels.


hull splash

en-verb

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


circuity

en-noun

circuity (countable and uncountable, plural circuities)

Total average circuities for the years 1947 and 1950 were estimated as 14 and 13 per cent, respectively, and the overall circuity for the commodity groups in 1947 was 13 per cent for products of agriculture, 8 per cent for animals and products […]

1956, Traffic World, volume 97, Traffic Service Corporation:

The circuity factor is the average ratio of road miles to air miles between two points on a landscape.

2006, Biomass Energy and Biofuels from Oregon's Forests:

(transport, countable) A measure of the ratio of road miles to air miles between two locations.


pay off

en-verb

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

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

splatit

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

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


compression ratio

en-noun

compression ratio (plural compression ratios)

internal combustion engine
internal combustion engine

(automotive) The ratio of the volume between the cylinder head of an internal combustion engine and the piston before and after the compression stroke.


synchronizer

(automotive) Part of a synchromesh manual transmission that allows the smooth engagement of gears.


battle stations

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

klart skib

order that prepares a battleship for combat


portage

en-verb

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

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

/ˈpɔː(ɹ)tɪd͡ʒ/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


show a leg

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

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

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

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

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


RAC

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

Royal Automobile Club
w:Royal Automobile Club

(UK, automotive) Initialism of Royal Automobile Club.


deadwood

en-noun

deadwood (countable and uncountable, plural deadwoods)

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


wigwag

From wig (“to wag, waggle”) + wag (“to swing”). The noun is derived from the verb.

com

Rogan hit the wigwag flashers on the headlights of the Crown Vic and made it to the circular driveway at the Sixth Avenue entrance of the Hilton in four minutes flat.

2009, Alafair Burke, City of Fear, London: Avon, →ISBN:

But it was equipped with a siren; blue lights concealed in the front grille; wig-wag, or blinking lights, in the rear; and a blue light on the front dashboard.

2009, Dick Lehr, The Fence: A Police Cover-up Along Boston’s Racial Divide, Pymble, N.S.W., New York, N.Y.: HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 10:

[…] Claxton flipped on the flashing red and blue wigwag lights on his patrol car's front bumper. […] And the truck, apparently responding to the flashing wigwag lights, edged farther off the pavement onto the shoulder and stopped; properly, cooperatively, deceptively.

2013 March, Dan Schultz, Dead Run: The Murder of a Lawman and the Greatest Manhunt of the Modern American West, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 28:

Any of a number of mechanical or electrical devices which cause a component to oscillate between two states.

A device that causes one or more lights to flash in a preset pattern.

(road transport) A device used to cause lamps installed on a motor vehicle, especially an emergency vehicle such as an ambulance or police car, to flash as a warning.

Travelling home about half past ten o'clock on a recent night he had seen a motor-car which had been driven into the cattle-stop on the railway-line. It was a bad night from a visibility point of view, and the wig-wag was not operating, as no train was in sight. However, before the motor-car was extricated a train passed within three inches of it.

1935 September 25, W[alter] Nash (Hutt), “[House of Representatives.] Adjournment: Questions”, in New Zealand. Parliamentary Debates. Fifth Session, Twenty-fourth Parliament. Legislative Council and House of Representatives. … Comprising the Period from August 29 to September 26, 1935, volume 242, Wellington: By authority; G. H. Loney, Government Printer, →OCLC, page 625:

The Seacliff train pulled out of Brighton station and gathered speed as it approached the level crossing with its wig-wag signal warning signal ringing out. Then the train's whistle blew deperately because, standing alone at the crossing, was a boy aged about three and a half. The little boy was I, was me, and I was engulfed by the noise and enthralled by the train's power.

2002, Ian [Victor] Hansen, “The First Problem”, in The Naked Fish: An Autobiography of Belief, Kent Town, South Australia: Wakefield Press, →ISBN, page 1:

(road transport) A device with multiple (often two), alternately flashing lights which is installed at a railway level crossing (or grade crossing), a movable bridge, etc., to warn vehicular traffic to stop.

Some vehicles with air brakes also use a wigwag low pressure indicator. This is mounted above the windshield. If the air pressure drops below 60 psi, the signal arm will drop down across the windshield. You can't reset it (push it back out of view) until air pressure is brought above 60 psi. Don't operate the vehicle with the signal arm lever down.

2010, Mike Byrnes and Associates, “Air Brakes”, in Barron’s CDL: Commercial Driver’s License Truck Driver’s Test, 3rd edition, Hauppauge, N.Y.: Barron's Educational Series, →ISBN, part 2, page 230, column 2:

(road transport) A warning device inside the cabin of a truck that causes a mechanical arm to drop into view when the pressure in the airbrake system of the truck becomes too low for the brakes to be reliably deployed.

One of the first standard types of automated visual grade-crossing warning was the automated flagman, a signal commonly known as a "wigwag." According to Santa Fe documents, the wigwag was adopted as a standard crossing device by the American Railway Association in 1923. A standard wigwag is actuated by a track circuit and consists of a paddle with a red lamp that gracefully swings back and forth in a horizontal pattern when a train approaches. A wigwag is usually accompanied by a bell.

2003, Brian Solomon, “Grade Crossing Signals”, in Railroad Signaling, St. Paul, Minn.: Voyageur Press, →ISBN, page 147, column 1:

(US, rail transport) A grade crossing signal with a swinging motion used to indicate an approaching train.


goods van

(rail transport, British) An enclosed railway freight car, especially one with a sliding door.


boxcar

boxcar thumb (canonical)
boxcars (plural)

The locomotive pulled one single car, a dilapidated boxcar missing numerous planks in its walls.

2016, Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad, Fleet (2017), page 83:

(rail transport, US) An enclosed railway goods wagon, typically with a sliding door.


brakeman

(US, rail transport) A railroad employee responsible for a train's brakes, couplings etc.


mousing

en-noun

mousing (countable and uncountable, plural mousings)

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


crosscurrent

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

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


sou'-sou'-east

(nautical) Alternative form of south-southeast


sou'-east

(nautical) Alternative form of southeast


sou'-east

en-adj

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

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


nor'-nor'-east

(nautical) Alternative form of north-northeast


nor'-east

(nautical) Alternative form of northeast


nor'-east

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

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


sou'-sou'-west

(nautical) Alternative form of south-southwest


nor'-nor'-west

(nautical) Alternative form of north-northwest


nor'-west

(nautical) Alternative form of northwest


nor'-west

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

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


sou'-west

(nautical) Alternative form of southwest


sou'-west

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

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


Santa Fe

Borrowed from Spanish Santa Fe (“Holy Faith”).

On a line like the Santa Fe, in such desert country as that on the Chicago-Los Angeles main line through Arizona and New Mexico, stations are few and far between, and at many of them one or two employees are the only permanent staff.

1950 May, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 300:

(rail transport) Short for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.


deckhand

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


powder monkey

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

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


pusher

(rail transport) Synonym of banker (“type of railway locomotive”)


dune buggy

(automotive) A recreational vehicle with large tires, designed for use on beaches and sand dunes.


cutch

en-noun

cutch (usually uncountable, plural cutches)

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


damelopre

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


cut splice

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


dagger board

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


dan buoy

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

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

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

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


currach

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

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

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

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


cut and run

en-verb

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

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

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


cutwater

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

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

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


cuddy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


bear a hand

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

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

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

1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island:

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

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

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


railroading

en-noun

railroading (usually uncountable, plural railroadings)

The recommendations of the Air Brake Association and the rules of the other railroads cited in this report differ in some respects, but the underlying intent of all is the common desire to prevent the most feared event in railroading - the irrevocable loss of control of trains descending mountain grades.

1981 August 18, National Transportation Safety Board, “Adequacy of Current UP Air Brake Rules and Instructions”, in Railroad Accident Report: Rear-End Collision of Union Pacific Railroad Company Freight Trains Extra 3119 West and Extra 8044 West, Near Kelso, California, November 17, 1980, archived from the original on 2022-03-29, page 32:

The terminology used in model railroading is one of the toughest things for beginners, but don't try to memorize everything all at once. You may not know the difference between a PS-1 and a GP7 today, but with time you'll be talking like an old hand.

1999, Marty McGuirk, N Scale Model Railroading: Getting Started in the Hobby, page 5:

(rail transport, US) The operation of a railroad.

(rail transport, US) The class of people, equipment, terminology, and lore pertaining to railroads.


foiling

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


blanketing

blanketing (countable and uncountable, plural blanketings)

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

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

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

The track blanketing required excavation of up and down main lines to a depth of 4½ft below rail level for 1⅜ miles, to allow the defective track bed to be removed and replaced by a new formation. [...] a layer of polythene was employed by the E.R. at the base of the new formation; [...] On top of the polythene is laid the sand, as a blanketing and drainage medium, and above that the ballast.

1962 July, “Talking of Trains: Big E.R. track blanketing job”, in Modern Railways, page 6:

(rail transport) Provision of a layer under the trackbed to prevent clay subsoil and water being forced to the surface by the weight of trains.


steam locomotive

steam locomotive (plural steam locomotives)

Inevitably the present extent and variety of the Belgian railways will diminish, and within the space of the ten-year plan we can expect to see a modern system concentrated on the main traffic routes like its neighbour in the Netherlands, and with its last steam locomotives and wooden coaches honourably retired to the museum.

1960 February, J. N. Faulkner, “The Belgian Railways today”, in Trains Illustrated, page 86:

(rail transport, historical) A locomotive, usually for use on a railway, that is powered by steam.


keelhauling

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

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

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

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

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


lightening

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


ship's biscuit

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

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

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

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

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


cappabar

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

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

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

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

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


lobscouse

lobscouse (usually uncountable, plural lobscouses)

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

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

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

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

labskovs

meat dish stewed with vegetables and ship biscuit


hardtack

hardtack (countable and uncountable, plural hardtacks)

(all military slang)

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

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

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

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

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


quartering

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

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

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


galliot

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


galleass

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

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

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

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

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

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


sander

Grass growing on the track made the running far from easy, and only frequent use of the sanders enabled us to breast the 1 in 50 gradients between Letterkenny and Kilmacrenon [sic].

1949 November and December, K. Longbottom, “By Goods Train to Gweedore”, in Railway Magazine, page 356:

Traditionally, sand was used to aid grip, being released onto the track in front of the wheels from a special 'sandbox'. However, the Slough accident led to two trials on the use of train-borne sanders to aid braking: [...] Now, all new stock is fitted with automatic sanders, as have most of the pre-1994 units still running.

2021 November 17, Greg Morse, “Network News: Background: causes and effects of low adhesion and wheelslide”, in RAIL, number 944, pages 8–9:

(rail transport) A device which spreads sand on the rails in wet, snowy, icy, slippery conditions to improve traction.

Sandstreuer

device which spreads sand to improve traction


flat junction

(rail transport) An at-grade junction between two crossing railroad tracks.


diamond junction

diamond junction (plural diamond junctions)

From the diamond shape that is formed by the four rails at the intersection.


level junction

Coordinate term: level crossing

úrovňové křížení

an at-grade junction between two crossing railroad tracks


diamond crossing

diamond crossing (plural diamond crossings)

Holonym: diamond crossover

Coordinate term: level crossing


railroad track

Holonym: permanent way

Meronyms: rail, railroad tie, railway tie, railway sleeper, sleeper

(rail transport, US) A pair of formed steel rails, separated and supported usually on wooden or concrete ties or sleepers, forming a track along which flange-wheeled railroad vehicles may travel.


automatic transmission

automatic transmission (plural automatic transmissions)

Meronym: torque converter

(automotive) A vehicle transmission which shifts gears automatically in response to vehicle speed and/or load, and does not require any driver input to manually change gears under normal driving conditions; an automatic gearbox.

自動波

a mechanical transmission which shifts gears automatically in response to speed and/or load

avtomatíčeskaja koróbka pereključénija peredáč

автомати́ческая коро́бка переключе́ния переда́ч


trailing wheel

(rail transport) On a steam locomotive, an unpowered wheel or axle located behind the driving wheels.


driving wheel

While not, perhaps, the handsomest of 4-4-2 tanks, as they had a rather large proportion of their driving wheels exposed, they proved very useful locomotives, doing yeoman work on suburban trains around London and Birmingham, and later on numerous rural routes.

1951 March, David R. Webb, “British 4-4-2 Tank Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 152:

(rail transport) On a steam locomotive, a powered wheel driven by the locomotive's pistons or turbine.


aisle

From Middle English ele, from Middle French aisle (“wing”) (Modern French aile), from Latin āla.

Do you want to seat window or aisle?

(transport) Seat in public transport, such as a plane, train or bus, that's beside the aisle.

käytäväpaikka

seat beside the aisle in common transport


carrying capacity

carrying capacity (plural carrying capacities)

(transport) The number of people or things that a vehicle is designed to carry.

環境承載力

number of people or things that a vehicle can carry


ferryboat

→ Albanian: ferribot

→ Bulgarian: ферибот (feribot)

→ Greek: φέρι μποτ (féri bot)

→ Japanese: フェリーボート (ferībōto)

→ Macedonian: ферибот (feribot)

→ Portuguese: ferryboat

→ Romanian: feribot

desc

fèribot//фѐрибот

→ Serbo-Croatian: fèribot／фѐрибот

→ Sicilian: ferrubbottu

→ Turkish: feribot

/ˈfɛɹiˌbəʊt/

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

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

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

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

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

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


gammon

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

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


(rail transport) Under the Whyte notation system, a steam locomotive that has two leading wheels, six coupled driving wheels, and four trailing wheels.


spinnaker

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

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


spinnaker

en-verb

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

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

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

1995, Tom Linskey, Race Winning Strategies:

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


gunboat

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

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

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


seaworthiness

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

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


burn off

burn off (third-person singular simple present burns off, present participle burning off, simple past and past participle burned off or burnt off)

burns off (present singular third-person)
burning off (participle present)
burned off (participle past)
burned off (past)
burnt off (participle past)
burnt off (past)

Near-synonym: burn up

(intransitive, rail transport, of an axle bearing) To fail due to overheating.


touch and go

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

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

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


hermaphrodite brig

en-noun

hermaphrodite brig (plural hermaphrodite brigs)

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

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

1846, Frederick Marryat, The Privateersman:

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


lose the number of one's mess

en-verb

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(nautical, idiomatic) To die, to perish.


ephemeris

en-noun

ephemeris (plural ephemerides or ephemerises)

ephemerides (plural)
ephemerises (plural)

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

der

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

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

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


telltale compass

en-noun

telltale compass (plural telltale compasses)

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

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

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


sister ship

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


carload

less-than-carload freight

By 1887 the company had grown so large that it was buying its flour and sugar by the carload.

(rail transport, US, Canada) The quantity of goods that can be carried in a freight car.


walk policy

(travel, hotel, hospitality industry) A pre-arranged list of compensation that will be offered to clients whose reserved room is not available at time of check-in.

hotel; hospitality industry; hotel; hospitality industry


DI

DI (countable and uncountable, plural DIs)

direct injection
direct injection#English

(automotive) Initialism of direct injection (“fuel injection”).


horse

horse (countable and uncountable, plural horses)

→ Maori: hōiho

→ Sranan Tongo: asi

→ Quiripi: hosses (from the plural horses)

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

a camel is a horse designed by a committee

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

close the barn door after the horse has bolted

close the stable door after the horse has been stolen

close the stable door after the horse has bolted

lock the stable door after the horse has been stolen

lock the stable door after the horse has bolted

shut the stable door after the horse has bolted

you can't put the shit back in the horse

zeal without knowledge is a runaway horse

Also Horse harness on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

See Horse-drawn vehicles on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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

with the horse-drawn originals often being forgotten.

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

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

An iron bar for a sheet traveller to slide upon.

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

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

(nautical) Type of equipment.
A jackstay.


CAG

CAG (countable and uncountable, plural CAGs)

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


roomette

Although many luxurious single-room sleepers are in service, the demand for sleeping accommodation on long journeys is so great that vehicles less weighty in proportion to their passenger accommodation, and therefore less expensive for the traveller, have become a paramount need, which is largely solved by the roomette car.

1944 November and December, “"Duplex Roomette" Sleeping Cars”, in Railway Magazine, page 324:

For most of its journey it is made up to about fourteen cars, of which a large proportion provide the better type of sleeping accommodation (bedrooms, roomettes, etc.).

1959 November, J. N. Westwood, “The Railways of Canada”, in Trains Illustrated, page 554:

(rail transport, US) A small private compartment, for one person, in a railroad sleeping car.


roundhouse

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

депо

a circular building in which locomotives are housed


gangplank

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

compound

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

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

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


gear shift

(automotive) That part of a gearbox involved in changing gear, including the lever and the forks attached to it.

скоростен лост

(automotive, US, Canada) The lever or other interface a human uses to shift gears.


shoulder season

en-noun

shoulder season (plural shoulder seasons)

When planning future trips, he echoed Ms. Vargas in recommending that people consider traveling during the “shoulder season,” which his tour company now defines as April and October — no longer May and September.

2022 August 4, Paige McClanahan, “Stockholm Instead of Rome? October Instead of July? How Heat Waves Are Changing Tourism in Europe”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(travel industry) The time between high and low season in a travel market, or, if the market is divided into four segments, the time just below high season.


dead men

dead men pl (normally plural, singular dead man)

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


dead water

dead water (countable and uncountable, plural dead waters)

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

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

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


baggywrinkle

baggywrinkle (countable and uncountable, plural baggywrinkles)

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


immunisation

immunisation (countable and uncountable, plural immunisations)

"Secondly, we have to find more cost-effective ways of electrifying. And we've had a real breakthrough in the last couple of years in terms of bridge clearances and immunisation, meaning we've been able to take hundreds of millions of pounds off the cost of electrification.

2020 May 20, Andrew Haines talks to Stefanie Foster, “Repurpose rail for the 2020s”, in Rail, page 33:

electrical engineering
electrical engineering

(rail transport, electrical engineering) The process of immunising signalling and traction power supplies so they don't interfere with each other.


cargo hold

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


monkey's fist

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


sheepshank

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

compound

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


squaresail

(nautical) Alternative form of square sail


foreyard

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

trinchetto

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


square sail

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


land bridge

His reference to waves of lorries on the A55 that match ferry schedules may become dated. Until very recently, the A55 formed part of a land bridge between Ireland and continental Europe. However, when Britain left the European Union, ferries started to ply a direct sea link from Ireland, [...].

2021 December 29, Philip Haigh, “Rail's role in unifying Great Britain and Northern Ireland”, in RAIL, number 947, page 25:

(Ireland, British, travel) Travel by ferry from one country, via another country by road, then by another ferry crossing to a third country. An example is from Ireland by ferry to the UK, by road to the opposite coast, then ferry to France.


preventer

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

preventteri

arrangement that prevents the boom from jibing

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


clewline

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

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

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

supistin

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


spreader

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

salingshorn

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


boom vang

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

kicking strap

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


warning track

(automotive, informal) A non-driving surface at the edge of a road, with a different surfacing warning drivers of the approach to the edge of the road, as part of the shoulder of a road.


jeer capstan

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


leech line

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

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

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


liftback

From lift + back, modelled on hatchback or similar pre-existing automotive terms. Coined in 1973 by Toyota to describe their Celica model.

(US, automotive) A variation on the hatchback car body style, with a more gently sloping roofline.


navigational chart

en-noun

navigational chart (plural navigational charts)

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


TPH

(rail transport) Initialism of trains per hour.


Multitronic

continuously variable transmission
continuously variable transmission

(automotive) A continuously variable transmission, in some Audi cars, that uses a chain instead of a belt.


switcher

(rail transport, US) A railway locomotive used for shunting; a shunter.

järjestelyveturi

(rail transport, trucking, US) The yardman who operates such an engine, or performs a similar role in a trucking depot.


headboard

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

A new use has been found for the L.M.S.R. observation car which previously worked in the Llandudno area. Mr. W. G. S. Wike writes that, still carrying headboards with the inscription "Llandudno and Blaenau Festiniog", it found its way to the Blackpool District, where it was used for familiarising enginemen with the various routes of access to this populous resort.

1939 June, “What the Railways are Doing: Novel Use of an Observation Car”, in Railway Magazine, page 462:

(rail transport) A board on the front of a train, carrying the train's name or that of the service it is on.


continuously variable transmission

continuously variable transmission (plural continuously variable transmissions)

continuously variable transmissions (plural)

(automotive) Any of several forms of automatic transmission, without specific gears, in which the gear ratio may be changed without any noticeable steps.


sequential manual gearbox

sequential manual gearbox (plural sequential manual gearboxes)

motorcycle transmission
Motorcycle transmission

(automotive) A type of manual gearbox which can be designed with either a manual or fully-automated clutch system. Gear shifts by the driver can only be chosen in a successive order, and the driver cannot skip gears, like with a standard H-pattern manual transmission. This type of transmission is most commonly used in motorcycles and racecars, and is a form of manual motorcycle transmission.


slops

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

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

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

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


shipmate

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

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

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

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


shipload

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


shipboard

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

inh+

(nautical) Occurring or existing on board a ship.


railhead

The improved service to and from Taunton is fully justified by the passenger patronage to and from this town, which is a railhead for a large surrounding area.

1961 October, “The winter timetables of British Railways: Western Region”, in Trains Illustrated, pages 590–591:

It would also offer an important opportunity to move construction materials in bulk, using a new railhead.

2019 October, John Glover, “Heathrow rail expansion”, in Modern Railways, page 71:

(rail transport) A point on a railway system where goods (or passengers) are loaded, unloaded or transferred to other transport.

Alternative form: rail head

High levels of railhead contamination (which can prevent train predictor systems working correctly) were present in the area - probably as a result of limited operation of the railhead treatment train, according to RAIB.

2020 December 30, “Network News: Railhead contamination contributed to level crossing near miss”, in RAIL, page 10:

"During the winter, we get really bad snow conditions. We can go to eight inches of snow above the railhead, then the trains are stopped. It's usually more like four inches, but you get big drifts up towards Rannoch.

2023 November 29, Paul Clifton, “West is best in the Highlands”, in RAIL, number 997, page 39:

(rail transport) The top surface (head) of a rail.


tailpipe

(automotive) An exhaust pipe exhausting to the aft of the vehicle


slipway

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


groundswell

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


AMF

(UK, railways) Abbreviation of Ammanford.


centerboard

(American spelling, nautical) Alternative spelling of centreboard


gunkhole

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


gunkhole

en-verb

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

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

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


rhumb line

Coordinate term: orthodrome

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

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

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

loksodromio

a line cutting all meridians at a constant angle


corrector magnet

en-noun

corrector magnet (plural corrector magnets)

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


reconfirm

en-verb

reconfirm (third-person singular simple present reconfirms, present participle reconfirming, simple past and past participle reconfirmed)

reconfirms (present singular third-person)
reconfirming (participle present)
reconfirmed (participle past)
reconfirmed (past)

(aviation, travel, dated) To advise an airline of your intention to use a reservation, or risk cancellation.


mainline

(rail transport) Of or pertaining to the principal route or line of a railway.

(rail transport) Of or pertaining to a surface railway as distinct from an underground, elevated or light rail one.


mainline

Coordinate term: trunk line

(rail transport) The principal route or line of a railway.


crossbeam

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


freshen

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

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

to freshen a hawse

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

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

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


idiot light

From idiot + light, suggesting that even a stupid person with no mechanical knowledge can recognize a problem when thus indicated.

(automotive, slang) Any warning light or indicator on the dashboard of a car, designed to alert the driver to problems, such as the parking brake being on or the oil being low.


(rail transport) Under the Whyte notation system, a steam locomotive that has four coupled leading wheels, six coupled driving wheels, and a pair of trailing wheels. Also known in British English as a "Pacific" locomotive.


fenestration

en-noun

fenestration (countable and uncountable, plural fenestrations)

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


(automotive) a four-wheeled vehicle with two-wheel drive


radio beacon

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

emergency position indicating radio beacon


put about

en-verb

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

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

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

(intransitive, nautical) To change direction.


pinnace

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

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

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


register ton

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


displacement ton

en-noun

displacement ton (plural displacement tons)

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


Scotchman

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