brace

The Sailor's Word-Book

The braces are ropes belonging to all the yards of a ship; two to each yard, rove through blocks that are stropped to the yards, or fastened to pendants, seized to the yard-arms. Their use is either to square or traverse the yards horizontally; hence, to brace the yard, is to bring it to either side by means of the braces. In ship-building, braces are plates of iron, copper, or mixed metal, which are used to bind efficiently a weakness in a vessel; as also to receive the pintles by which the rudder is hung.

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