"Like a purser's shirt on a handspike;" a comparison for clothes fitting loosely.
·vt & ·vi To cover or clothe with a shirt, or as with a shirt. II. Shirt ·noun A loose under-garmen...
Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
·add. ·- A belted waist resembling a shirt in plainness of cut and style, worn by women or children;...
a band. N. ...
A glossary of provincial and local words used in England by Francis Grose
A bassoon: from its likeness to a syphon, called a purser's pump. ...
Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
The smallest dip-candle. ...
The Sailor's Word-Book
Sneers. ...
An assumed one. During the war, when pressed men caught at every opportunity to desert, they adopted...
The weight formerly used in the navy, by which the purser retained an eighth for waste, and the men ...
The official who superintended and noted down the exact quantity and species of provisions issued to...
A slop article, which stretched to any amount put into it. (See show a leg!.) ...
·add. ·- A costume consisting of a plain belted waist and skirt of the same material. ...
Hypocritical and satirical sneers. ...