bilge

The Sailor's Word-Book

, or bulge


That part of the floor in a ship

on either side of the keel which approaches nearer to a horizontal than to a perpendicular direction, and begins to round upwards. It is where the floors and second futtocks unite, and upon which the ship would rest if laid on the ground; hence, when a ship receives a fracture in this part, she is said to be bilged or bulged.

♦ Bilge is also the largest circumference of a cask, or that which extends round by the bung-hole.

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