to | Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.

Related Words

To
·prep Addition; union; accumulation. II. To ·prep Character; condition of being; purpose subserved ...

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
To-
·prep An obsolete intensive prefix used in the formation of compound verbs; as in to-beat, to-break,...

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
bring-to, to
To bend, as to bring-to a sail to the yard. Also, to check the course of a ship by trimming the sail...

The Sailor's Word-Book
broach-to, to
To fly up into the wind. It generally happens when a ship is carrying a press of canvas with the win...

The Sailor's Word-Book
heave-to, to
To put a vessel in the position of lying-to, by adjusting her sails so as to counteract each other, ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
lie-to, to
To cause a vessel to keep her head steady as regards a gale, so that a heavy sea may not tumble into...

The Sailor's Word-Book
round-to, to
To bring to, or haul to the wind by means of the helm. To go round, is to tack or wear. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
put to sea, to
To quit a port or roadstead, and proceed to the destination. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
turn to windward, to
To gain on the wind by alternate tacking. It is when a ship endeavours to make progress against the ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
Lean-to
·adj Having only one slope or pitch; — said of a roof. II. Lean-to ·noun A shed or slight building...

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
Set-to
·noun A contest in boxing, in an argument, or the like. ...

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
To-beat
·vt To beat thoroughly or severely. ...

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
To-break
·vt To break completely; to break in pieces. ...

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
To-brest
·vt To burst or break in pieces. ...

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
To-day
·noun The present day. II. To-day ·prep On this day; on the present day. ...

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
To-do
·noun Bustle; stir; commotion; ado. ...

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
To-fall
·noun A lean-to. ·see Lean-to. ...

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
To-name
·noun A name added, for the sake of distinction, to one's surname, or used instead of it. ...

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
To-rend
·vt To rend in pieces. ...

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
To-rent
·Impf & ·p.p. of To-rend. ...

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
to bam
To impose on any one by a falsity; also to jeer or make fun of any one. ...

Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
to bamboozle
To make a fool of any one, to humbug or impose on him. ...

Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
to baste
To beat. I'll give him his bastings, I'll beat him heartily. ...

Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
to bishop
the balls, a term used among printers, to water them. ...

Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
to bitch
To yield, or give up an attempt through fear. To stand bitch; to make tea, or do the honours of the ...

Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
to bite
To over-reach, or impose; also to steal.--Cant. --Biting was once esteemed a kind of wit, similar to...

Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
to bug
A cant word among journeymen hatters, signifying the exchanging some of the dearest materials of whi...

Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
to grab
To seize a man. The pigs grabbed the kiddey for a crack: the officers, seized the youth for a burgla...

Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
to top
To cheat, or trick: also to insult: he thought to have topped upon me. Top; the signal among taylors...

Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
to tower
To overlook, to rise aloft as in a high tower. ...

Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
to twig
To observe. Twig the cull, he is peery; observe the fellow, he is watching us. Also to disengage, sn...

Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
hump, to
v. to shoulder, carry on the back;especially, to hump the swag, or bluey, or drum. See Swag, Bluey,...

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris
jump, to
v. to take possession of a claim(mining) on land, on the ground that a former possessor hasabandone...

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris
to buckle-to
To set about any task with energy and a determination to effect the object. It probably comes from h...

Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
to cotton to
'To cotton to one,' is to take a liking to him; to fancy him; literally to stick to him, as cotton w...

Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
abase, to
An old word signifying to lower a flag or sail. Abaisser is in use in the French marine, and both ma...

The Sailor's Word-Book
abate, to
An old Anglo-Norman word from abattre, to beat down or destroy; as, to abate a castle or fort, is to...

The Sailor's Word-Book
abet, to
To excite or encourage a common word, greatly in use at boat-racings, and other competitive acts. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
abrase, to
To dubb or smooth planks. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
accoil, to
To coil together, by folding round. (See coil.) ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
accompany, to
To sail together; to sail in convoy. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
accost, to
To pass within hail of a ship; to sail coastwise; to approach, to draw near, or come side by side. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
adjourn, to
To put off till another day. Adjournments can be made in courts-martial from day to day, Sundays exc...

The Sailor's Word-Book
adjust, to
To arrange an instrument for use and observation; as, to adjust a sextant, or the escapement of a ch...

The Sailor's Word-Book
advance, to
An old word, meaning to raise to honour. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
aid, to
To succour; to supply with provisions or stores. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
allow, to
To concede a destined portion of stores, &c. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
annul, to
To nullify a signal. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
answer, to
To reply, to succeed; as, the frigate has answered the signal. This boat will not answer. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
commute, to
To lighten the sentence of a court-martial, on a recommendation of the court to the commander-in-chi...

The Sailor's Word-Book
compass, to
To curve; also to obtain one's object. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
complain, to
The creaking of masts, or timbers, when over-pressed, without any apparent external defect. One man ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
compliment, to
To render naval or military honour where due. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
conquer, to
To overcome decidedly. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
consign, to
To send a consignment of goods to an agent or factor for sale or disposal. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
copper, to
To cover the ship's bottom with prepared copper. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
corn, to
A remainder of the Anglo-Saxon ge-cyrned, salted. To preserve meat for a time by salting it slightly...

The Sailor's Word-Book
couple, to
To bend two hawsers together; coupling links of a cable; coupling shackles. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
cripple, to
To disable an enemy's ship by wounding his masts, yards, and steerage gear, thereby placing him hors...

The Sailor's Word-Book
cund, to
To give notice which way a shoal of fish is gone. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
cure, to
To salt meat or fish. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
debark, to
To land; to go on shore. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
decamp, to
To raise the camp; the breaking up from a place where an army has been encamped. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
deck, to
A word formerly in use for to trim, as "we deckt up our sails." ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
derrick, to
A cant term for setting out on a small not over-creditable enterprise. The act is said to be named f...

The Sailor's Word-Book
diddle, to
To deceive. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
ding, to
To dash down or throw with violence. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
dip, to
To lower. An object is said to be dipping when by refraction it is visible just above the horizon. A...

The Sailor's Word-Book
discourse, to
An old sea term to traverse to and fro off the proper course. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
dish, to
To supplant, ruin, or frustrate. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
dismount, to
To break the carriages of guns, and thereby render them unfit for service. Also, in gun exercise, to...

The Sailor's Word-Book
disorganize, to
To degrade a man-of-war to a privateer by irregularity. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
dive, to
To descend or plunge voluntarily head-foremost under the water. To go off deck in the watch. A ship ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
doff, to
To put aside. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
double, to
To cover a ship with an extra planking, usually of 4 inches, either internally or externally, when t...

The Sailor's Word-Book
douse, to
To lower or slacken down suddenly; expressed of a sail in a squall of wind, an extended hawser, &c. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
dout, to
To put out a light; to extinguish; do out. Shakspeare makes the dauphin of France say in "King Henry...

The Sailor's Word-Book
dress, to
To place a fleet in organized order; also, to arrange men properly in ranks; to present a true conti...

The Sailor's Word-Book
drive, to
[from the Anglo-Saxon dryfan]. A ship drives when her anchor trips or will not hold. She drives to...

The Sailor's Word-Book
dubb, to
To smooth and cut off with an adze the superfluous wood. ♦ To dubb a vessel bright, is to remove t...

The Sailor's Word-Book
duck, to
To dive, or immerse another under water; or to avoid a shot. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
egg, to
To instigate, incite, provoke, to urge on: from the Anglo-Saxon eggion. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
eke, to
[Anglo-Saxon eácan, to prolong.] To make anything go far by reduction and moderation, as in shorteni...

The Sailor's Word-Book
embark, to
To go on board, or to put on board a vessel. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
endanger, to
To expose to peril. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
enrol, to
To enter the name on the roll of a corps. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
ensconce, to
To intrench; to protect by a slight fortification. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
equip, to
A term frequently applied to the business of fitting a ship for a trading voyage, or arming her for ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
export, to
To send goods or commodities out of a country, for the purposes of traffic, under the general name o...

The Sailor's Word-Book
faff, to
To blow in flaws. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
fag, to
to tire ♦ A fag. A deputy labouring-man, or one who works hard for another. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
fall, to
A town or fortress is said to fall when it is compelled to surrender to besiegers. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
fang, to
To pour water into a pump in order to fetch it, when otherwise the boxes do not hold the water left ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
favour, to
to be careful of; also to be fair for. "Favour her" is purely a seaman's term; as when it blows in...

The Sailor's Word-Book
fay, to
To fit any two pieces of wood, so as to join close and fair together; the plank is said to fay to th...

The Sailor's Word-Book
feaze, to
To untwist, to unlay ropes; to teaze, to convert it into oakum. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
fell, to
To cut down timber. To knock down by a heavy blow. Fell is the Anglo-Saxon for a skin or hide. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
fetch, to
To reach, or arrive at; as, "we shall fetch to windward of the lighthouse this tack." ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
fettle, to
To fit, repair, or put in order. Also, a threat. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
fill, to
To brace the yards so that the wind strikes the after side of the sails, and advances the ship in he...

The Sailor's Word-Book
find, to
To provide with or furnish. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
fist, to
To handle a rope or sail promptly; thus fisting a thing is readily getting hold of it. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
flabbergast, to
To throw a person aback by a confounding assertion; to produce a state of extreme surprise. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
flank, to
To defend that part; incorrectly used sometimes for firing upon a flank. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
flare, to
To rake back, as of a fashion-piece or knuckle-timber. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
fleate, to
To skim fresh water off the sea, as practised at the mouths of the Rhone, the Nile, &c. The word is ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
flemish, to
To coil down a rope concentrically in the direction of the sun, or coil of a watch-spring, beginning...

The Sailor's Word-Book
flense, to
To strip the fat off a flayed seal, or the blubber from a whale. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
fletch, to
To feather an arrow. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
flicker, to
to veer about. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
flop, to
To fall flat down: as "soused flop in the lee-scuppers." ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
flying-to
Is when a vessel, from sailing free or having tacked, and her head thrown much to leeward, is coming...

The Sailor's Word-Book
founder, to
to fill with water and go down. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
frap, to
To bind tightly together. To pass lines round a sail to keep it from blowing loose. To secure the fa...

The Sailor's Word-Book
free, to
♦ To free a prisoner. To restore him to liberty. ♦ To free a pump. To disengage or clear it. ♦ T...

The Sailor's Word-Book
freeze, to
To congeal water or any fluid. Thus sea-water freezes at 28° 5′ Fah.; fresh water at 32°; mercury at...

The Sailor's Word-Book
freshen, to
To relieve a rope of its strain, or danger of chafing, by shifting or removing its place of nip. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
fret, to
To chafe. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
fumigate, to
To purify confined or infectious air by means of smoke, sulphuric acid, vinegar, and other correctiv...

The Sailor's Word-Book
furl, to
To roll up and bind a sail neatly upon its respective yard or boom. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
gammon, to
To pass the lashings of the bowsprit. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
gee, to
To suit or fit; as, "that will just gee." ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
gip, to
To take the entrails out of fishes. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
gird, to
To bind; used formerly for striking a blow. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
glent, to
To turn aside or quit the original direction, as a shot does from accidentally impinging on a hard s...

The Sailor's Word-Book
glower, to
to stare or look intently. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
grabble, to
To endeavour to hook a sunk article. To catch fish by hand in a brook. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
grapple, to
To hook with a grapnel; to lay hold of. First used by Duilius to prevent the escape of the Carthagin...

The Sailor's Word-Book
grave, to
To clean a vessel's bottom, and pay it over. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
grill, to
To broil on the bars of the galley-range, as implied by its French derivation. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
griped-to
The situation of a boat when secured by gripes. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
ground, to
To take the bottom or shore; to be run aground through ignorance, violence, or accident. ♦ To stri...

The Sailor's Word-Book
guddle, to
To catch fish with the hands by groping along a stream's bank. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
gudge, to
To poke or prod for fish under stones and banks of a river. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
part, to
To break a rope. To part from an anchor is in consequence of the cable parting. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
plash, to
To wattle or interweave branches. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
ply, to
To carry cargoes or passengers for short trips. Also, to work to windward, to beat. Also, to ply an ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
powder, to
To salt meat slightly; as Falstaff says, "If thou embowel me to-day, I'll give you leave to powder m...

The Sailor's Word-Book
press, to
To reduce an enemy to straits. (See impressment.) ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
prime, to
To make ready a gun, mine, &c., for instantaneous firing. Also, to pierce the cartridge with the p...

The Sailor's Word-Book
prise, to
To raise, or slue, weighty bodies by means of a lever purchase or power. (See prizing.) ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
prove, to
To test the soundness of fire-arms, by trying them with greater charges than those used on service. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
pursue, to
To make all sail in chase. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
push, to
To move a vessel by poles. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
pyke, to
A old word signifying to haul on a wind. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
quadrate, to
To trim a gun on its carriage and its trucks; to adjust it for firing on a level range. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
quicken, to
In ship-building, to give anything a greater curve; as, to quicken the sheer, opposed to straighteni...

The Sailor's Word-Book
race, to
Applies to marking timber with the race-tool. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
raddle, to
To interlace; as in making boats' gripes and flat gaskets. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
raise, to
To make an object subtend a larger angle by approaching it, which is the foundation of perspective, ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
range, to
To sail in a parallel direction, and near to; as "we ranged the coast;" "the enemy came ranging up a...

The Sailor's Word-Book
ransack, to
To pillage; but to ransack the hold is merely to overhaul its contents. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
raze, to
To level or demolish (applicable to works or buildings). ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
reduce, to
To degrade to a lower rank; or to shorten the allowance of water or provisions. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
reeve, to
To pass the end of a rope through any cavity or aperture, as the channel of a block; to unreeve is t...

The Sailor's Word-Book
reinforce, to
To strengthen a fleet, squadron, army, or detachment, by additional means and munitions. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
relieve, to
To put fresh men or ships upon a stipulated duty. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
replenish, to
To obtain supplies of water and provisions up to the original amount. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
resolve, to
To reduce a traverse, or day's work, to its exact limits. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
ret, to
To soak in water, as in seasoning timber, hemp, &c. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
ride, to
To ride at anchor. A vessel rides easily, apeak, athwart, head to wind, out a gale, open hawse, to t...

The Sailor's Word-Book
rig, to
To fit the shrouds, stays, braces, and running-rigging to their respective masts, yards, and sails. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
rouse, to
To man-handle. "Rouse in the cable," haul it in, and make it taut. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
row, to
To propel a boat or vessel by oars or sweeps, which are managed in a direction nearly horizontal. (S...

The Sailor's Word-Book
sack, to
[from the Anglo-Saxon sæc]. To pillage a place which has been taken by storm. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
sagg, to
To bend or give way from heavy weight; to press down towards the middle; the opposite of hogging. In...

The Sailor's Word-Book
salam, to
To salute a superior; a very common term, borrowed from India. Overdoing it does not please Jack, fo...

The Sailor's Word-Book
scuttle, to
To cut or bore holes through part of a ship when she is stranded or over-set, and continues to float...

The Sailor's Word-Book
seduce, to
To inveigle a man to desertion. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
send, to
To rise after pitching heavily and suddenly between two waves, or out of the trough of the sea. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
serve, to
To supply the gun with powder and shot. Also, to handle it through all the changes of station. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
shake, to
To cast off fastenings, as ♦ To shake out a reef. To let out a reef, and enlarge the sail. ♦ To ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
shieve, to
To have head-way. To row the wrong way, in order to assist the steersman in a narrow channel. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
shoot, to
To move suddenly; as "the ballast shoots on one side." Also, a ship shoots ahead in stays. Also, to ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
shorten, to
Said of a ship's sails when requisite to reduce those that are set. And shorten in, when alluding to...

The Sailor's Word-Book
signalize, to
To distinguish one's self; a word also degraded to the meaning of communicating intelligence by mean...

The Sailor's Word-Book
single, to
To unreeve the running part of top-sail sheets, &c., to let them run freely, or for harbour duty. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
size, to
To range soldiers, marines, and small-arm men, so that the tallest may be on the flanks of a party. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
skedaddle, to
To stray wilfully from a watering or a working party. An archaism retained by the Americans. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
skelp, to
To slap with the open hand: an old word, said to have been imported from Iceland: "I canno' tell a...

The Sailor's Word-Book
sling, to
To pass the top-chains round the yards when going into action. Also, to set any large article, in ro...

The Sailor's Word-Book
slue, to
To turn anything round or over in situ: especially expressing the movement of a gun, cask, or ship; ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
snaggle, to
To angle for geese with a hook and line properly baited. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
snape, to
In ship-carpentry, is to hance or bevel the end of anything, so as to fay upon an inclined plane: it...

The Sailor's Word-Book
spill, to
Whether for safety or facility, it is advisable to shiver the wind out of a sail before furling or r...

The Sailor's Word-Book
spoom, to
An old word frequently found in Dryden, who thus uses it, "When virtue spooms before a prosp'rous ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
stand, to
The movement by which a ship advances towards a certain object, or departs from it; as, "The enemy s...

The Sailor's Word-Book
stave, to
To break a hole in any vessel. Also, to drive in the head of a cask, as of spirits, to prevent the c...

The Sailor's Word-Book
steep-to
[Anglo-Saxon stéap.] Said of a bold shore, admitting of the largest vessels coming very close to the...

The Sailor's Word-Book
stoke, to
To frequent the galley in a man-of-war, or to trim fires. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
storm, to
To take by vigorous assault, in spite of the resistance of the defenders. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
strike, to
A ship strikes when she in any way touches the bottom. Also, to lower anything, as the ensign or top...

The Sailor's Word-Book
sugg, to
To move or rock heavily on a bank or reef. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
swagg, to
To sink down by its own weight; to move heavily or bend. Synonymous with sagg. Also, the bellying of...

The Sailor's Word-Book
sway, to
or sway away. To hoist simultaneously; particularly applied to the lower yards and top-masts, and ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
swilker, to
A provincialism for splashing about. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
swim, to
[from the Anglo-Saxon swymm]. To move along the surface of the water by means of the simultaneous mo...

The Sailor's Word-Book
swing, to
A ship is said to swing to the wind or tide, when they change their direction while she is lying at ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
tally, to
To haul the sheets aft; as used by Falconer "And while the lee clue-garnet's lower'd away, Taut ...

The Sailor's Word-Book