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From Complete Book of The Sailor's Word-Book: An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc.
By Unknown Author
TITIVATE, To; or Titivate off to the Nines. To freshen the paint-work; to put into the highest kelter.
TOAD-FISH. The Lophius piscatorius, or fishing-frog.
TOBACCO. Has been supplied for the use of the ships' companies in the royal navy from the 1st January, 1799.
TOBACCO-CHARTS. The worthless charts formerly sold by ship-chandlers.
TOD-BOAT. A broad flat Dutch fishing-boat.
TODDY. The sura or juice extracted from various kinds of palm, and often called palm-wine. A mixture of spirits, water, and sugar is also called toddy. (See Arrack.)
TOE A LINE! The order to stand in a row.[685]
TOGGLE. A strong pin of wood, sometimes used instead of a hook in fixing a tackle, or it is put through the bight or eye of a rope, bolt, or block-strop, to keep it in its place. In ships of war it is usual to fix toggles upon the running parts of the topsail-sheets, the jears, &c. , when preparing for action, so that if the rope is shot away below, the toggle may stop the yard from coming down. The toggle is used in masting operations, in securing the standing part of fore and main sheets, but especially in whaling operations, cutting in, flensing, &c.
, a hole is cut in the blubber, the eye of the purchase strop passed through and toggled. In cold weather especially it is preferred to the hook, which at low temperatures is apt to snap suddenly, and is, moreover, heavier to handle. The term is also used for putting the bights of the sheets in the beckets. (See Becket.
TOGGLE-BOLT. This bolt is used to confine the ensign-staff, and the like, into its place by means of a strap; it has a flat head, and a mortice through it, that receives a toggle or pin.
TOGS. A very old term for clothes.—Togged to the nines, in full dress.—Sunday togs, the best clothes.
TOISE. The French fathom, nearly approaching to ours: the proportion of the English yard to the French demi-toise being as 36 to 38·35. The toise is equal to 6·3946 English feet.
TOKE. A drink made from honey in Madagascar; very dangerous to Europeans.
TOKO FOR YAM. An expression peculiar to negroes for crying out before being hurt.
TOLEDO. An esteemed Spanish sword, so called from the place of manufacture.
TOLL. A demand, &c., at the Sound; hence the epithet of Sound dues.
TOM. A pet bow-chaser, a 9 or 12-pounder. (See Long Tom.)
TOMAHAWK. A weapon somewhat resembling a hand poleaxe, much used in boarding an enemy, as it is not only effective in combat, but useful in holding on, and in cutting away fasts and rigging when required. The name is derived from the hatchet of the North American Indians.
TOM ASTONERS. Dashing fellows; from astound or "astony," to terrify.
TOM COX'S TRAVERSE. Up one hatchway and down another: others say three turns round the long boat, and a pull at the scuttle. It means the work of an artful dodger, all jaw, and no good in him.
TOMMY COD. A very small variety of the Gadus morrhua, which mostly appears in the winter months; whence it is also called frost-fish at Halifax and in Newfoundland.
TOM NORIE. A name of the puffin, Fratercula arctica.
TOM PEPPER. A term for a liar; he having, according to nautic tradition, been kicked out of the nether regions for indulging in falsehood.
TOMPION. A circular plug of wood, used to stop the muzzle of a gun, and[686] thereby keep out the wet at sea. The tompions are carefully encircled with tallow or putty for the same purpose. Also, the stopper fitted to go between the powder and shell in a mortar. This name is often pronounced as well as written tompkin.
TOM-TOM. A small drum, made from the stem of a hollowed tree, generally of the palm-tribe, as the centre is pithy and the skin flinty. It is covered by the skin of a lizard or shark, and beaten with the fingers. It is used throughout the tropics, and produces a hollow monotonous sound. In the East Indies it is used to proclaim public notices, and to draw attention to conjurors, snake-charmers, &c.
TON, or Tun [from the Anglo-Saxon tunne]. In commerce, 20 cwt. , or 2240 lbs. , but in the cubical contents of a ship it is the weight of water equal to 2000 lbs. , by the general standard for liquids.
A tun of wine or oil contains 4 hogsheads. A ton or load of timber is a measure of 40 cubic feet in the rough, and of 50 when sawn: 42 cubic feet of articles equal one ton in shipment.
TONEE. A canoe of some burden, made of the hollowed trunk of a tree in early use on the Malabar coast. (See Terrada.)
TON FOR TON AND MAN FOR MAN. A phrase implying that ships sailing as consorts, ought fairly to divide whatever prize they take.
TONGUE [Anglo-Saxon tunga]. The long tapered end of one piece of timber made to fay into a scarph at the end of another piece, to gain length. Also, a low salient point of land. Also, a dangerous mass of ice projecting under water from an iceberg or floe, nearly horizontally; it was on one of these shelves that the Guardian frigate struck.
TONGUE OF A BEVEL. The movable part of the instrument by which the angles or bevellings are taken.
TONNAGE. A custom or impost formerly granted to the crown for merchandise imported or exported. Also, the admeasurement of a ship, and thence to ascertain her cubical contents converted into tons. (See Burden.)
TOP. A sort of platform placed over the head of the lower mast, from which it projects like a scaffold. The principal intention of the top is to extend the topmast-shrouds, so as to form a greater angle with the mast, and thereby give it additional support. It is sustained by certain timbers bolted fore-and-aft on the bibbs or shoulders of the mast, and called the trestle-trees; athwart these are the cross-trees. In ships of war it is used as a kind of redoubt, and is fortified accordingly.
It is also very convenient for containing the materials for setting the small sails, fixing and repairing the rigging, &c. The tops are named after their respective masts. This top was formerly fenced on the after-side by a rail about three feet high, between the stanchions of which a netting was usually constructed, and stowed in action with hammocks. This was covered with red baize, or canvas painted red, and called the top-armour. Top-armours were in use with the Spaniards in 1810.
TOP-ARMINGS. Hammocks stowed inside the rigging for the protection of riflemen.[687]
TOP A YARD OR BOOM, To. To raise up one end of it by hoisting on the lift, as the spanker-boom is lifted before setting the sail.
TOP-BLOCK. A large single block with an iron strop and hook, by which it is hooked into an eye-bolt under the lower cap, and is used for the top-pendant to reeve through in swaying up or lowering down the top-masts.
TOP BURTON-TACKLE. See Burton.
TOP-CASTLES. Castellated ledgings surrounding the mast-heads of our early ships, in which the pages to the officers were stationed to annoy the enemy with darts, &c.
TOP-CHAIN. A chain to sling the yards in time of battle, in case of the ropes by which they are hung being shot away.
TOPE. A small-sized Chinese junk. Also, the Galeus vulgaris, a kind of shark. Also, a small grove of trees in India.
TOP-GALLANT. In the Cotton MSS. this word appears as "top-garland."
TOPGALLANT-FORECASTLE. A short deck forward above the upper deck, mostly used as a galley, but in some merchantmen a berthing place for their crews, though generally very wet and uncomfortable for want of a few necessary fittings. Also, it facilitates working the head-sails.—In several of the iron-clad frigates, chase-guns are fitted there.
TOPGALLANT-MAST. The third mast above the deck; the uppermost before the days of royals and flying kites.
TOP-GALLANT QUARTER-BOARDS, or Top-gallant Bulwarks. See Quarter-boards.
TOPGALLANT-SAILS. The third sails above the decks: they are set above the topsail-yards, in the same manner as the top-sails above the lower yards.
TOP-HAMPER. Any unnecessary weight either on a ship's decks or about her tops and rigging. Also, applied to flying-kites and their gear. Also, to an officer overclothing himself.
TOP-LANTERN, or Top-light. A large signal-lantern placed in the after-part of a top, in ships where an admiral's flag or commodore's pendant flies.
TOP-LINING. A lining on the after-part of sails, to prevent their chafing against the top-rim. Also, a platform of thin board nailed upon the upper part of the cross-trees on a vessel's top.
TOP-MAST. The second division of a mast above the deck. (See Mast.)
TOP-MAUL. A large hammer used to start the top-mast fid, and to beat down the top, when setting up topmast-rigging.
TOP-MEN. Selected smart seamen stationed in the several tops, to attend the taking in or setting of the upper sails.
TOP-NETTINGS. See Top.
TOPPING. Pretentious; as, topping the officer; also, fine, gallant, &c.
TOPPING-LIFTS. Those lifts which support a spar, davit, &c.
TOP-RAIL. A rail supported on stanchions across the after-part of each of a ship's tops.[688]
TOP-RIDERS. See Upper Futtock-riders.
TOP RIM OR BRIM. The circular sweep of the fore part of a vessel's top, and covering in the ends of the cross-trees and trestle-trees, to prevent their chafing the top-sail.
TOP-ROPE. The mast-rope employed to sway up a top-mast or topgallant-mast, in order to fix it in its place, or lower it. The top-rope is rove through a block which is hooked on one side of the cap, and passing through the sheave-hole of the mast, is brought upwards on the opposite side, and fastened to an eye-bolt in the foremost part of the cap. To the lower end of the top-mast top-rope a tackle is fixed. (See Top-tackle.
) "Swaying on all top-ropes;" figuratively, "going the whole hog" in joviality or any trickery.
TOP-SAIL HAUL! or Main-topsail Haul! When the main-sail is not set, this is the order given to haul the after-yards round when the ship is nearly head to wind in tacking.
TOP-SAILS. The second sails above the decks, extending across the top-masts, by the topsail-yards above, and by the lower yards beneath, being fastened to the former by earings and robands, and to the latter by the topsail-sheets, which, passing through two great blocks or cheeks fixed on its extremities, and thence to two other blocks fixed on the inner part of the yard close by the mast, lead downwards to the deck.—Paying debts with flying top-sails, or with a flying fore-topsail, is leaving them unpaid. Vessels not having topsail-yards rigged aloft, set top-sails flying, as cutters, yachts, schooners, &c.
TOPSAIL-SCHOONER. Is full schooner-rigged, but carries a square-topsail on the fore-mast; the fore-sail not bent, but set as a square-sail. She may also carry a main-topsail, and is then termed a two-topsail schooner.
TOPSAIL-SHEET BITTS. Standing bitt-heads through which the topsail-sheets lead, and to which they are belayed.
TOP-SAWYER. The leading man in any undertaking. One who excels; inasmuch as the man of most intellect guides the saw, and No. 2 gets the sawdust in his face.
TOP-SIDE. All that part of a ship's side which is above the main-wales: that is, those strakes between the sheer-strake and upper black-strake.
TOP-SWIVEL. Once a favourite arm for ships' tops, but from the confined space and elevation rather an encumbrance than a useful addition.
TOP-TACKLE. A large tackle, or properly pendant, hooked to the lower end of the top-mast top-rope, and to the deck, in order to increase the mechanical power in lifting the top-mast in order to fid it. It is composed of two strong iron-bound double or triple blocks, the hooks of which work on a swivel.
T., Part 4
TITIVATE, To; or Titivate off to the Nines. To freshen the paint-work; to put into the highest kelter.
TOAD-FISH. The Lophius piscatorius, or fishing-frog.
TOBACCO. Has been supplied for the use of the ships' companies in the royal navy from the 1st January, 1799.
TOBACCO-CHARTS. The worthless charts formerly sold by ship-chandlers.
TOD-BOAT. A broad flat Dutch fishing-boat.
TODDY. The sura or juice extracted from various kinds of palm, and often called palm-wine. A mixture of spirits, water, and sugar is also called toddy. (See Arrack.)
TOE A LINE! The order to stand in a row.[685]
TOGGLE. A strong pin of wood, sometimes used instead of a hook in fixing a tackle, or it is put through the bight or eye of a rope, bolt, or block-strop, to keep it in its place. In ships of war it is usual to fix toggles upon the running parts of the topsail-sheets, the jears, &c. , when preparing for action, so that if the rope is shot away below, the toggle may stop the yard from coming down. The toggle is used in masting operations, in securing the standing part of fore and main sheets, but especially in whaling operations, cutting in, flensing, &c.
, a hole is cut in the blubber, the eye of the purchase strop passed through and toggled. In cold weather especially it is preferred to the hook, which at low temperatures is apt to snap suddenly, and is, moreover, heavier to handle. The term is also used for putting the bights of the sheets in the beckets. (See Becket.
TOGGLE-BOLT. This bolt is used to confine the ensign-staff, and the like, into its place by means of a strap; it has a flat head, and a mortice through it, that receives a toggle or pin.
TOGS. A very old term for clothes.—Togged to the nines, in full dress.—Sunday togs, the best clothes.
TOISE. The French fathom, nearly approaching to ours: the proportion of the English yard to the French demi-toise being as 36 to 38·35. The toise is equal to 6·3946 English feet.
TOKE. A drink made from honey in Madagascar; very dangerous to Europeans.
TOKO FOR YAM. An expression peculiar to negroes for crying out before being hurt.
TOLEDO. An esteemed Spanish sword, so called from the place of manufacture.
TOLL. A demand, &c., at the Sound; hence the epithet of Sound dues.
TOM. A pet bow-chaser, a 9 or 12-pounder. (See Long Tom.)
TOMAHAWK. A weapon somewhat resembling a hand poleaxe, much used in boarding an enemy, as it is not only effective in combat, but useful in holding on, and in cutting away fasts and rigging when required. The name is derived from the hatchet of the North American Indians.
TOM ASTONERS. Dashing fellows; from astound or "astony," to terrify.
TOM COX'S TRAVERSE. Up one hatchway and down another: others say three turns round the long boat, and a pull at the scuttle. It means the work of an artful dodger, all jaw, and no good in him.
TOMMY COD. A very small variety of the Gadus morrhua, which mostly appears in the winter months; whence it is also called frost-fish at Halifax and in Newfoundland.
TOM NORIE. A name of the puffin, Fratercula arctica.
TOM PEPPER. A term for a liar; he having, according to nautic tradition, been kicked out of the nether regions for indulging in falsehood.
TOMPION. A circular plug of wood, used to stop the muzzle of a gun, and[686] thereby keep out the wet at sea. The tompions are carefully encircled with tallow or putty for the same purpose. Also, the stopper fitted to go between the powder and shell in a mortar. This name is often pronounced as well as written tompkin.
TOM-TOM. A small drum, made from the stem of a hollowed tree, generally of the palm-tribe, as the centre is pithy and the skin flinty. It is covered by the skin of a lizard or shark, and beaten with the fingers. It is used throughout the tropics, and produces a hollow monotonous sound. In the East Indies it is used to proclaim public notices, and to draw attention to conjurors, snake-charmers, &c.
TON, or Tun [from the Anglo-Saxon tunne]. In commerce, 20 cwt. , or 2240 lbs. , but in the cubical contents of a ship it is the weight of water equal to 2000 lbs. , by the general standard for liquids.
A tun of wine or oil contains 4 hogsheads. A ton or load of timber is a measure of 40 cubic feet in the rough, and of 50 when sawn: 42 cubic feet of articles equal one ton in shipment.
TONEE. A canoe of some burden, made of the hollowed trunk of a tree in early use on the Malabar coast. (See Terrada.)
TON FOR TON AND MAN FOR MAN. A phrase implying that ships sailing as consorts, ought fairly to divide whatever prize they take.
TONGUE [Anglo-Saxon tunga]. The long tapered end of one piece of timber made to fay into a scarph at the end of another piece, to gain length. Also, a low salient point of land. Also, a dangerous mass of ice projecting under water from an iceberg or floe, nearly horizontally; it was on one of these shelves that the Guardian frigate struck.
TONGUE OF A BEVEL. The movable part of the instrument by which the angles or bevellings are taken.
TONNAGE. A custom or impost formerly granted to the crown for merchandise imported or exported. Also, the admeasurement of a ship, and thence to ascertain her cubical contents converted into tons. (See Burden.)
TOP. A sort of platform placed over the head of the lower mast, from which it projects like a scaffold. The principal intention of the top is to extend the topmast-shrouds, so as to form a greater angle with the mast, and thereby give it additional support. It is sustained by certain timbers bolted fore-and-aft on the bibbs or shoulders of the mast, and called the trestle-trees; athwart these are the cross-trees. In ships of war it is used as a kind of redoubt, and is fortified accordingly.
It is also very convenient for containing the materials for setting the small sails, fixing and repairing the rigging, &c. The tops are named after their respective masts. This top was formerly fenced on the after-side by a rail about three feet high, between the stanchions of which a netting was usually constructed, and stowed in action with hammocks. This was covered with red baize, or canvas painted red, and called the top-armour. Top-armours were in use with the Spaniards in 1810.
TOP-ARMINGS. Hammocks stowed inside the rigging for the protection of riflemen.[687]
TOP A YARD OR BOOM, To. To raise up one end of it by hoisting on the lift, as the spanker-boom is lifted before setting the sail.
TOP-BLOCK. A large single block with an iron strop and hook, by which it is hooked into an eye-bolt under the lower cap, and is used for the top-pendant to reeve through in swaying up or lowering down the top-masts.
TOP BURTON-TACKLE. See Burton.
TOP-CASTLES. Castellated ledgings surrounding the mast-heads of our early ships, in which the pages to the officers were stationed to annoy the enemy with darts, &c.
TOP-CHAIN. A chain to sling the yards in time of battle, in case of the ropes by which they are hung being shot away.
TOPE. A small-sized Chinese junk. Also, the Galeus vulgaris, a kind of shark. Also, a small grove of trees in India.
TOP-GALLANT. In the Cotton MSS. this word appears as "top-garland."
TOPGALLANT-FORECASTLE. A short deck forward above the upper deck, mostly used as a galley, but in some merchantmen a berthing place for their crews, though generally very wet and uncomfortable for want of a few necessary fittings. Also, it facilitates working the head-sails.—In several of the iron-clad frigates, chase-guns are fitted there.
TOPGALLANT-MAST. The third mast above the deck; the uppermost before the days of royals and flying kites.
TOP-GALLANT QUARTER-BOARDS, or Top-gallant Bulwarks. See Quarter-boards.
TOPGALLANT-SAILS. The third sails above the decks: they are set above the topsail-yards, in the same manner as the top-sails above the lower yards.
TOP-HAMPER. Any unnecessary weight either on a ship's decks or about her tops and rigging. Also, applied to flying-kites and their gear. Also, to an officer overclothing himself.
TOP-LANTERN, or Top-light. A large signal-lantern placed in the after-part of a top, in ships where an admiral's flag or commodore's pendant flies.
TOP-LINING. A lining on the after-part of sails, to prevent their chafing against the top-rim. Also, a platform of thin board nailed upon the upper part of the cross-trees on a vessel's top.
TOP-MAST. The second division of a mast above the deck. (See Mast.)
TOP-MAUL. A large hammer used to start the top-mast fid, and to beat down the top, when setting up topmast-rigging.
TOP-MEN. Selected smart seamen stationed in the several tops, to attend the taking in or setting of the upper sails.
TOP-NETTINGS. See Top.
TOPPING. Pretentious; as, topping the officer; also, fine, gallant, &c.
TOPPING-LIFTS. Those lifts which support a spar, davit, &c.
TOP-RAIL. A rail supported on stanchions across the after-part of each of a ship's tops.[688]
TOP-RIDERS. See Upper Futtock-riders.
TOP RIM OR BRIM. The circular sweep of the fore part of a vessel's top, and covering in the ends of the cross-trees and trestle-trees, to prevent their chafing the top-sail.
TOP-ROPE. The mast-rope employed to sway up a top-mast or topgallant-mast, in order to fix it in its place, or lower it. The top-rope is rove through a block which is hooked on one side of the cap, and passing through the sheave-hole of the mast, is brought upwards on the opposite side, and fastened to an eye-bolt in the foremost part of the cap. To the lower end of the top-mast top-rope a tackle is fixed. (See Top-tackle.
) "Swaying on all top-ropes;" figuratively, "going the whole hog" in joviality or any trickery.
TOP-SAIL HAUL! or Main-topsail Haul! When the main-sail is not set, this is the order given to haul the after-yards round when the ship is nearly head to wind in tacking.
TOP-SAILS. The second sails above the decks, extending across the top-masts, by the topsail-yards above, and by the lower yards beneath, being fastened to the former by earings and robands, and to the latter by the topsail-sheets, which, passing through two great blocks or cheeks fixed on its extremities, and thence to two other blocks fixed on the inner part of the yard close by the mast, lead downwards to the deck.—Paying debts with flying top-sails, or with a flying fore-topsail, is leaving them unpaid. Vessels not having topsail-yards rigged aloft, set top-sails flying, as cutters, yachts, schooners, &c.
TOPSAIL-SCHOONER. Is full schooner-rigged, but carries a square-topsail on the fore-mast; the fore-sail not bent, but set as a square-sail. She may also carry a main-topsail, and is then termed a two-topsail schooner.
TOPSAIL-SHEET BITTS. Standing bitt-heads through which the topsail-sheets lead, and to which they are belayed.
TOP-SAWYER. The leading man in any undertaking. One who excels; inasmuch as the man of most intellect guides the saw, and No. 2 gets the sawdust in his face.
TOP-SIDE. All that part of a ship's side which is above the main-wales: that is, those strakes between the sheer-strake and upper black-strake.
TOP-SWIVEL. Once a favourite arm for ships' tops, but from the confined space and elevation rather an encumbrance than a useful addition.
TOP-TACKLE. A large tackle, or properly pendant, hooked to the lower end of the top-mast top-rope, and to the deck, in order to increase the mechanical power in lifting the top-mast in order to fid it. It is composed of two strong iron-bound double or triple blocks, the hooks of which work on a swivel.