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Assail
·vt To encounter or meet purposely with the view of mastering, as an obstacle, difficulty, or the li...
Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
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To
·prep Addition; union; accumulation.
II. To ·prep Character; condition of being; purpose subserved ...
Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
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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
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to
for at or in, is an exceedingly common vulgarism in the Northern States. We often hear such vile exp...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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put to sea, to
To quit a port or roadstead, and proceed to the destination.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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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
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Set-to
·noun A contest in boxing, in an argument, or the like.
...
Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
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To-beat
·vt To beat thoroughly or severely.
...
Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
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To-break
·vt To break completely; to break in pieces.
...
Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
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To-brest
·vt To burst or break in pieces.
...
Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
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To-day
·noun The present day.
II. To-day ·prep On this day; on the present day.
...
Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
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To-do
·noun Bustle; stir; commotion; ado.
...
Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
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To-fall
·noun A lean-to. ·see Lean-to.
...
Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
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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
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To-rend
·vt To rend in pieces.
...
Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
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To-rent
·Impf & ·p.p. of To-rend.
...
Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
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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
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to bamboozle
To make a fool of any one, to humbug or impose on him.
...
Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
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to baste
To beat. I'll give him his bastings, I'll beat him heartily.
...
Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
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to bishop
the balls, a term used among printers, to water them.
...
Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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to tower
To overlook, to rise aloft as in a high tower.
...
Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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abet, to
To excite or encourage a common word, greatly in use at boat-racings, and other competitive acts.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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abrase, to
To dubb or smooth planks.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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accoil, to
To coil together, by folding round. (See coil.)
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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accompany, to
To sail together; to sail in convoy.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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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
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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
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advance, to
An old word, meaning to raise to honour.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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aid, to
To succour; to supply with provisions or stores.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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allow, to
To concede a destined portion of stores, &c.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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annul, to
To nullify a signal.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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answer, to
To reply, to succeed; as, the frigate has answered the signal. This boat will not answer.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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compass, to
To curve; also to obtain one's object.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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complain, to
The creaking of masts, or timbers, when over-pressed, without any apparent external defect. One man ...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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compliment, to
To render naval or military honour where due.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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conquer, to
To overcome decidedly.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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consign, to
To send a consignment of goods to an agent or factor for sale or disposal.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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copper, to
To cover the ship's bottom with prepared copper.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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couple, to
To bend two hawsers together; coupling links of a cable; coupling shackles.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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cund, to
To give notice which way a shoal of fish is gone.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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cure, to
To salt meat or fish.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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debark, to
To land; to go on shore.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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decamp, to
To raise the camp; the breaking up from a place where an army has been encamped.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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deck, to
A word formerly in use for to trim, as "we deckt up our sails."
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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diddle, to
To deceive.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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ding, to
To dash down or throw with violence.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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discourse, to
An old sea term to traverse to and fro off the proper course.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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dish, to
To supplant, ruin, or frustrate.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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disorganize, to
To degrade a man-of-war to a privateer by irregularity.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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doff, to
To put aside.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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duck, to
To dive, or immerse another under water; or to avoid a shot.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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egg, to
To instigate, incite, provoke, to urge on: from the Anglo-Saxon eggion.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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eke, to
[Anglo-Saxon eácan, to prolong.] To make anything go far by reduction and moderation, as in shorteni...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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embark, to
To go on board, or to put on board a vessel.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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endanger, to
To expose to peril.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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enrol, to
To enter the name on the roll of a corps.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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ensconce, to
To intrench; to protect by a slight fortification.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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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
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faff, to
To blow in flaws.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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fag, to
to tire
♦ A fag. A deputy labouring-man, or one who works hard for another.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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fall, to
A town or fortress is said to fall when it is compelled to surrender to besiegers.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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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
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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
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feaze, to
To untwist, to unlay ropes; to teaze, to convert it into oakum.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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fetch, to
To reach, or arrive at; as, "we shall fetch to windward of the lighthouse this tack."
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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fettle, to
To fit, repair, or put in order. Also, a threat.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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find, to
To provide with or furnish.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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fist, to
To handle a rope or sail promptly; thus fisting a thing is readily getting hold of it.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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flabbergast, to
To throw a person aback by a confounding assertion; to produce a state of extreme surprise.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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flank, to
To defend that part; incorrectly used sometimes for firing upon a flank.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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flare, to
To rake back, as of a fashion-piece or knuckle-timber.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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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
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flense, to
To strip the fat off a flayed seal, or the blubber from a whale.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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fletch, to
To feather an arrow.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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flicker, to
to veer about.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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flop, to
To fall flat down: as "soused flop in the lee-scuppers."
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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founder, to
to fill with water and go down.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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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
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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
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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
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The Sailor's Word-Book
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fumigate, to
To purify confined or infectious air by means of smoke, sulphuric acid, vinegar, and other correctiv...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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furl, to
To roll up and bind a sail neatly upon its respective yard or boom.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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gammon, to
To pass the lashings of the bowsprit.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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gee, to
To suit or fit; as, "that will just gee."
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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gip, to
To take the entrails out of fishes.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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gird, to
To bind; used formerly for striking a blow.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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glower, to
to stare or look intently.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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grabble, to
To endeavour to hook a sunk article. To catch fish by hand in a brook.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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grave, to
To clean a vessel's bottom, and pay it over.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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grill, to
To broil on the bars of the galley-range, as implied by its French derivation.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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griped-to
The situation of a boat when secured by gripes.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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ground, to
To take the bottom or shore; to be run aground through ignorance, violence, or accident.
♦ To stri...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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guddle, to
To catch fish with the hands by groping along a stream's bank.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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gudge, to
To poke or prod for fish under stones and banks of a river.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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plash, to
To wattle or interweave branches.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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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
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press, to
To reduce an enemy to straits. (See impressment.)
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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prise, to
To raise, or slue, weighty bodies by means of a lever purchase or power. (See prizing.)
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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pursue, to
To make all sail in chase.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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push, to
To move a vessel by poles.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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pyke, to
A old word signifying to haul on a wind.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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quicken, to
In ship-building, to give anything a greater curve; as, to quicken the sheer, opposed to straighteni...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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race, to
Applies to marking timber with the race-tool.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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raddle, to
To interlace; as in making boats' gripes and flat gaskets.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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raise, to
To make an object subtend a larger angle by approaching it, which is the foundation of perspective, ...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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ransack, to
To pillage; but to ransack the hold is merely to overhaul its contents.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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reduce, to
To degrade to a lower rank; or to shorten the allowance of water or provisions.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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reinforce, to
To strengthen a fleet, squadron, army, or detachment, by additional means and munitions.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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relieve, to
To put fresh men or ships upon a stipulated duty.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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replenish, to
To obtain supplies of water and provisions up to the original amount.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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resolve, to
To reduce a traverse, or day's work, to its exact limits.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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ret, to
To soak in water, as in seasoning timber, hemp, &c.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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rig, to
To fit the shrouds, stays, braces, and running-rigging to their respective masts, yards, and sails. ...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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rouse, to
To man-handle. "Rouse in the cable," haul it in, and make it taut.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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sack, to
[from the Anglo-Saxon sæc]. To pillage a place which has been taken by storm.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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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
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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
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seduce, to
To inveigle a man to desertion.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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signalize, to
To distinguish one's self; a word also degraded to the meaning of communicating intelligence by mean...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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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
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skedaddle, to
To stray wilfully from a watering or a working party. An archaism retained by the Americans.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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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
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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
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snaggle, to
To angle for geese with a hook and line properly baited.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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stoke, to
To frequent the galley in a man-of-war, or to trim fires.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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storm, to
To take by vigorous assault, in spite of the resistance of the defenders.
...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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sugg, to
To move or rock heavily on a bank or reef.
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The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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sway, to
or sway away.
To hoist simultaneously; particularly applied to the lower yards and top-masts, and ...
The Sailor's Word-Book
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swilker, to
A provincialism for splashing about.
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The Sailor's Word-Book
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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
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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
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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