A severe punishment formerly inflicted for various offences, especially in the Dutch navy. The culprit was suspended by a rope from one fore yard-arm attached to his back, with a weight upon his legs, and having another rope fastened to him, leading under the ship's bottom, and through a block at its opposite yard-arm; he was then let fall into the sea, when, passing under the ship's bottom, he was hoisted up on the opposite side of the vessel to the other yard-arm. Aptly described as "under-going a great hard-ship."
A glossary of provincial and local words used in England by Francis Grose
A nautical term; to capsize or upset, and metaphorically applied to a sudden prostration. As it see...
Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.
A glossary of provincial and local words used in England by Francis Grose