"Gavelokes also thicke floweSo gnattes, ichil avowe."
GAVER. A Cornish name for the sea cray-fish.
GAW. A southern term for a boat-pole.
GAWDNIE. The dragonet, or yellow gurnard;Callionymus lyra.
GAW-GAW. A lubberly simpleton.
GAWKY. A half-witted, awkward youth. Also, the shell called horse-cockle.
GAWLIN. A small sea-fowl which the natives of the Western Isles of Scotland trust in, as a prognosticator of the weather.
GAWN-TREE.SeeGantree.
GAWPUS. A stupid, idle fellow.
GAWRIE. A name for the red gurnard;Trigla cuculus.
GAZONS [Fr.] Sods of earth or turf, cut in wedge-shaped form, to line the parapet and face the outside of works.
GAZZETTA. The name of a small coin in the Adriatic and Levant. It was the price of the first Venetian newspaper, and thereby gave the name to those publications. In the Greek islands the word is used for ancient coins.
G.C.B. The initials for Grand Cross of the most honourable and Military Order of the Bath.
GEAR [the Anglo-Saxongeara, clothing]. A general name for the rigging of any particular spar or sail; and in or out of gear implies anything being fit or unfit for use.
GEARING. A complication of wheels and pinions, or of shafts and pulleys, &c.
GEARS.SeeJeers.
GEE,To. To suit or fit; as, "that will just gee."
GELLYWATTE. An old term for a captain's boat, the original ofjolly-boat. (SeeCaptain Downton's voyage to India in 1614, where "she was sent to take soundings within the sands.")
GENERAL. The commander of an army: the military rank corresponding to the naval one of admiral. The title includes all officers above colonels, ascending with qualifying prefixes, as brigadier-general, major-general, lieutenant-general, to general, above which is nothing save the exceptional rank of field-marshal and of captain-general or commander-in-chief of the land forces of the United Kingdom.
GENERAL AVERAGE. A claim made upon the owners of a ship and her cargo, when the property of one or more has been sacrificed for the good of the whole.
GENERAL BREEZO.SeeBreezo.
GENERALISSIMO. The supreme commander of a combined force, or of several armies in the field.
GENERAL OFFICERS. All those above the rank of a colonel.
GENERAL ORDERS. The orders issued by the commander-in-chief of the forces.
GENERAL SHIP. Where persons unconnected with each other load goods on board, in contradistinction to acharteredship.
GENEVA PRINT. An allusion to the spirituous liquor so called,—
"And if you meetAn officer preaching of sobriety,Unless he read it inGeneva print,Lay him by the heels."—Massinger.
GENOUILLERE [Fr.] That part of a battery which remains above the platform, and under the gun after the opening of the embrasure. Of course a knee-step.
GENTLE. A maggot or grub used as a bait by anglers.
GENTLE GALE. In which a ship carries royals and flying-kites; force 4.
GENTLEMEN. The messmates of the gun-room or cockpit—as mates, midshipmen, clerks, and cadets.
GEOCENTRIC. As viewed from the centre of the earth.
GEO-GRAFFY. A beverage made by seamen of burnt biscuit boiled in water.
GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.SeePosition, Geographical.
GEORGIUM SIDUS. The planet discovered by Sir W. Herschel was so named at first; but astronomers adoptedUranusinstead, as safer to keep in the neutral ground of mythology.
GERLETROCH. TheSalmo alpinus, red char, or galley-trough.
GERRACK. A coal-fish in its first year.
GERRET. A samlet or parr.
GERRICK. A Cornish name for a sea-pike.
GERRON. A cant name for the sea-trout.
GESERNE. Anglo-Norman for battle-axe.
GESTLING. A meeting of the members of the Cinque Ports at Romney.
GET AFLOAT. Pulling out a grounded boat.
GET-A-PULL. The order to haul in more of a rope or tackle.
GHAUT.SeeGaut.
GHEE. The substitute for butter served out to ships' companies on the Indian station.
GHOST. A false image in the lens of an instrument.
GHRIME-SAIL. The old term for a smoke-sail.
GIB. A forelock.
GIBB. The beak, or hooked upper lip of a male salmon.
GIBBOUS. The form of a planet's disc exceeding a semicircle, but less than a circle.
GIB-FISH. A northern name for the male of the salmon.
GIBRALTAR GYN. Originally devised there for working guns under a low roof. (SeeGyn.)
GIDDACK. A name on our northern coasts for the sand-launce or sand-eel,Ammodytes tobianus.
GIFFOOT. A Jewish corruption of the Spanish spoken at Gibraltar and the sea-ports.
GIFT-ROPE [synonymous withguest-rope]. A rope for boats at the guest-warp boom.
GIG. A light narrow galley or ship's boat, clincher-built, and adapted for expedition either by rowing or sailing; the latter ticklish at times.
GILDEE. A name in the Scottish isles for theMorhua barbata, or whiting pout.
GILGUY. A guy for tracing up, or bearing a boom or derrick. Often applied to inefficient guys.
GILL. A ravine down the surface of a cliff; a rivulet through a ravine. The name is often applied also to the valley itself.
GILLER. A horse-hair fishing line.
GILLS. Small hackles for drying hemp.
GILPY. Between a man and boy.
GILSE. A common misnomer ofgrilse(which see).
GILT. A cant, but old term for money, on which Shakspeare (Henry V.act ii. scene 1) committed a well-known pun—
"Have for the gilt of France (O guilt indeed!)"
GILT-HEAD,or Gilt-poll. TheSparus aurata, a fish of the European and American seas, with a golden mark between the eyes. (SeeSedow.)
GIMBALS. The two concentric brass rings, having their axles at right angles, by which a sea-compass is suspended in its box, so as to counteract the effect of the ship's motion. (SeeCompass.) Also used for the chronometers.
GIMBLETING. The action of turning the anchor round on its fluke, so that the motion of the stock appears similar to that of the handle of a gimlet when it is employed to bore a hole. To turn anything round on its end.
GIMLET-EYE. A penetrating gaze, which sees through a deal plank.
GIMMART.SeeGymmyrt.
GIMMEL. Any disposition of rings, as links, device of machinery. (SeeGimbals.)
GIN. A small iron cruciform frame, having a swivel-hook, furnished with an iron sheave, to serve as a pulley for the use of chain in discharging cargo and other purposes.
GINGADO.SeeJergado.
GINGAL. A long barrelled fire-arm, throwing a ball of from1⁄4to1⁄2lb., used throughout the East, especially in China; made to load at the breach with a movable chamber. (See alsoJingal.)
GINGERBREAD-HATCHES. Luxurious quarters—
"Gingerbread-hatches on shore."
GINGERBREAD WORK. Profusely carved decorations of a ship.
GINGERLY. Spruce and smart, but somewhat affected in movement.
GINNELIN. Catching fish by the hand; tickling them.
GINNERS,or Ginnles. The gills of fish.
GINSENG. A Chinese root, formerly highly prized for its restorative virtues, and greatly valued among the items of a cargo. It is now almost out of theMateria Medica.
GIP,To. To take the entrails out of fishes.
GIRANDOLE. Any whirling fire-work.
GIRD,To. To bind; used formerly for striking a blow.
GIRDLE. An additional planking over the wales or bends. Also, a frapping for girding a ship.
GIRT. The situation of a ship which is moored so taut by her cables, extending from the hawse to two distant anchors, as to be prevented from swinging to the wind or tide. The ship thus circumstanced endeavours to swing, but her side bears upon one of the cables, which catches on her heel, and interrupts her in the act of traversing. In this position she must ride with her broadside or stern to the wind or current, till one or both of the cables are slackened, so as to sink under the keel; after which the ship will readily yield to the effort of the wind or current, and turn her head thither. (SeeRide.)
GIRT-LINE. A whip purchase, consisting of a rope passing through a single block on the head of a lower mast to hoist up the rigging thereof, and the persons employed to place it; the girt-line is therefore the first rope employed to rig a ship. (Sometimes mis-calledgant-line.)
GISARMS. An archaic term for a halbert or hand-axe.
GIVE A SPELL. To intermit or relieve work. (SeeSpell.)
GIVE CHASE,To. To make sail in pursuit of a stranger.
GIVE HERSO AND SO. The direction of the officer of the watch to the midshipman, reporting the rate of sailing by the log, and which requires correction in the judgment of that officer, from winds, &c., before marking on the log-board.
GIVE HER SHEET. The order to ease off; give her rope.
GIVE WAY. The order to a boat's crew to renew rowing, or to increase their exertions if they were already rowing. To hang on the oars.
GIVE WAY TOGETHER. So that the oars may all dip and rise together, whereby the force is concentrated.
GIVE WAY WITH A WILL. Pull heartily together.
GIVING. The surging of a seizing; new rope stretching to the strain.
GLACIS. In fortification, that smooth earthen slope outside the ditch which descends to the country, affording a secure parapet to the covered way, and exposing always a convenient surface to the fire of the place.
GLADENE. A very early designation of the sea-onion.
GLAIRE. A broadsword or falchion fixed on a pike.
GLANCE. (SeeNorthern-glance.) Also, a name for anthracite coal.
GLASAG. The Gaelic name of an edible sea-weed of our northern isles.
GLASS. The usual appellation for a telescope (see the old sea song of Lord Howard's capture of Barton the pirate). Also, the familiar term for a barometer.Glassis also used in the plural to denote time-glass on the duration of any action; as, they fought yard-arm and yard-arm three glasses,i.e.three half-hours.—To flog or sweat the half-hour glass.To turn the sand-glass before the sand has quite run out, and thus gaining a few minutes in each half-hour, make the watch too short.—Half-minute and quarter-minute glasses, used to ascertain the rate of the ship's velocity measured by the log; they should be occasionally compared with a good stop watch.—Night-glass.A telescope adapted for viewing objects at night.
GLASS CLEAR? Is the sand out of the upper part? asked previously to turning it, on throwing the log.
GLASSOK. A coast name for the say, seath, or coal-fish.
GLAVE. A light hand-dart. Also, a sword-blade fixed on the end of a pole.
GLAYMORE. A two-handed sword. (SeeClaymore.)
GLAZED POWDER. Gunpowder of which the grains, by friction against one another in a barrel worked for the purpose, have acquired a fine polish, sometimes promoted by a minute application of black-lead; reputed to be very slightly weaker than the original, and somewhat less liable to deterioration.
GLEN. An Anglo-Saxon term denoting a dale or deep valley; still in use for a ravine.
GLENT,To. To turn aside or quit the original direction, as a shot does from accidentally impinging on a hard substance.
GLIB-GABBET. Smooth and ready speech.
GLIM. A light; familiarly used for the eyes.—Dowse the glim, put out the light.
GLOAMING. The twilight. Also, a gloomy dull state of sky.
GLOBE RANGERS. A soubriquet for the royal marines.
GLOBULAR SAILING. A general designation for all the methods on which the rules of computation are founded, on the hypothesis that the earth is a sphere; including great circle sailing.
GLOG. The Manx or Erse term which denotes the swell or rolling of the sea after a storm.
GLOOM-STOVE. Formerly for drying powder, at a temperature of about140°; being an iron vessel in a room heated from outside, but steam-pipes are now substituted.
GLOOT.SeeGaloot.
GLOWER,To. To stare or look intently.
GLUE.SeeMarine Glue.
GLUM. As applied to the weather, overcast and gloomy. Socially, it is a grievous look.
GLUT. A piece of wood applied as a fulcrum to a lever power. Also, a bit of canvas sewed into the centre of a sail near the head, with an eyelet-hole in the middle for the bunt-jigger or becket to go through. Glut used to prevent slipping, as sand and nippers glut the messenger; the fall of a tackle drawn across the sheaves, by which it is choked or glutted; junks of rope interposed between the messenger and the whelps of the capstan.
GLYN. A deep valley with convex sides. (SeeCwm.)
GNARLED. Knotty; said of timber.
GNARRE. An old term for a hard knot in a tree; hence Shakspeare's "unwedgeable and gnarled oak."
GNOLL. A round hillock. (SeeKnoll.)
GNOMON. The hand; style of a dial.
GO! A word sometimes given when all is ready for the launch of a vessel from the stocks.
GO AHEAD!or Go on!The order to the engineer in a steamer.
GO ASHORE,To. To land on leave.
GO ASHORES. The seamen's best dress.
GOBARTO. A large and ravenous fish of our early voyagers, probably a shark.
GOBBAG. A Gaelic name for the dog-fish.
GOB-DOO. A Manx term for a mussel.
GOBISSON.Gambesson; quilted dress worn under the habergeon.
GOBLACHAN. A Gaelic name for the parr or samlet.
GOB-LINE.SeeGaub-line.
GOBON. An old English name for the whiting.
GOB-STICK. A horn or wooden spoon.
GO BY. Stratagem.—To give her the go by, is to escape by deceiving.
GOBY. A name of thegudgeon(which see). It was erroneously applied to white-bait.
GOD. We retain the Anglo-Saxon word to designate theAlmighty; signifying good, to do good, doing good, and to benefit; terms such as our classic borrowings cannot pretend to.
GODENDA. An offensive weapon of our early times, being a poleaxe with a spike at its end.
GO DOWN. The name given to store-houses and magazines in the East Indies.
GODSEND. An unexpected relief or prize; but wreckers denote by the term vessels and goods driven on shore.
GOE. A creek, smaller than a voe.
GOELETTE [Fr.] A schooner. Also, a sloop-of-war.
GOGAR. A serrated worm used in the north for fishing-bait.
GOGLET. An earthen vase or bottle for holding water.
GOILLEAR. The Gaelic for a sea-bird of the Hebrides, said to come ashore only in January.
GOING ABOUT. Tacking ship.
GOING FREE. When the bowlines are slackened, or sailing with the wind abeam.
GOING LARGE. Sailing off the wind.
GOING THROUGH THE FLEET. A cruel punishment, long happily abolished. The victim was sentenced to receive a certain portion of the flogging alongside the various ships, towed in a launch by a boat supplied from each vessel, the drummers beating the rogue's march.
GOLDENEY. A name for the yellow gurnard among the northern fishermen.
GOLD FISH. The trivial name of theCyprinus auratus, one of the most superb of the finny tribe. It was originally brought from China, but is now generally naturalized in Europe.
GOLD MOHUR. A well known current coin in the East Indies, varying a little in value at each presidency, but averaging fifteen rupees, or thirty shillings.
GOLE. An old northern word for a stream or sluice.
GOLLETTE. The shirt of mail formerly worn by foot soldiers. Also, a French sloop-of-war, spelled goëlette.
GOMER. A particular form of chamber in ordnance, consisting in a conical narrowing of the bore towards its inner end. It was first devised for the service of mortars, and named after the inventor, Gomer, in the late wars.
GOMERE [Fr.] The cable of a galley.
GONDOLA. A light pleasure-barge universally used on the canals of Venice, generally propelled by one man standing on the stern with one powerful oar, though the larger kinds have more rowers. The middle-sized gondolas are upwards of 30 feet long and 4 broad, with a well furnished cabin amidships, though exclusively black as restricted by law. They always rise at each end to a very sharp point of about the height of a man's breast. The stem is always surmounted by the ferro, a bright iron beak or cleaver of one uniform shape, seemingly derived from the ancient Romans, being the "rostrisque tridentibus" of Virgil, as may be seen in many of Hadrian's large brass medals. The form of the gondola in the water is traced back till its origin is lost in antiquity, yet (like that of the Turkish caïques) embodies the principles of the wave-line theory, the latest effort of modern ship-building science. Also, a passage-boat of six or eight oars, used on other parts of the coast of Italy.
GONDOLIER. A man who works or navigates a gondola.
GONE. Carried away. "The hawser or cable isgone;" parted, broken.
GONE-GOOSE. A ship deserted or given up in despair (in extremis).
GONFANON [Fr.] Formerly a cavalry banneret; corrupted from thegonfaloneof the Italians.
GONG. A kind of Chinese cymbal, with a powerful and sonorous tone produced by the vibrations of its metal, consisting mainly of copper and tutenag or zinc; it is used by some vessels instead of a bell. A companion of Sir James Lancaster in 1605 irreverently states that it makes "a most hellish sound."
GONGA. A general name for a river in India, whence comes Ganges.
GOOD-AT-ALL-POINTS. Practical in every particular.
GOOD-CONDUCT BADGE. Marked by a chevron on the lower part of the sleeve, granted by the admiralty, and carrying a slight increase of pay, to petty officers, seamen, and marines. One of a similar nature is in use in the army.
GOOD MEN. The designation of the able, hard-working, and willing seamen.
GOOD SHOALING. An approach to the shore by very gradual soundings.
GOOLE. An old term for a breach in a sea-bank.
GOOSANDER. TheMergus merganser, a northern sea-fowl, allied to the duck, with a straight, narrow, and serrated bill, hooked at the point.
GOOSE-NECK. A curved iron, fitted outside the after-chains to receive a spare spar, properly the swinging boom, a davit. Also, a sort of iron hook fitted on the inner end of a boom, and introduced into a clamp of iron or eye-bolt, which encircles the mast; or is fitted to some other place in the ship, so that it may be unhooked at pleasure. It is used for various purposes, especially for guest-warps and swinging booms of all descriptions.
GOOSE-WINGSof a Sail. The situation of a course when the buntlines and lee-clue are hauled up, and the weather-clue down. The clues, or lower corners of a ship's main-sail or fore-sail, when the middle part is furled or tied up to the yard. The term is also applied to the fore and main sails of a schooner or other two-masted fore-and-aft vessel; when running before the wind she has these sails set on opposite sides.
GOOSE WITHOUT GRAVY. A severe starting, so called because no blood followed its infliction.
GORAB.SeeGrab.
GORD. An archaism denoting a deep hole in a river.
GORES. Angular pieces of plank inserted to fill up a vessel's planking at any part requiring it. Also, the angles at one or both ends of such cloths as increase the breadth or depth of a sail. (SeeGoring-cloth.)
GORGE. The upper and narrowest part of a transverse valley, usually containing the upper bed of a torrent. Also, in fortification, a line joining the inner extremities of a work.
GORGE-HOOK. Two hooks separated by a piece of lead, for the taking of pike or other voracious fish.
GORGET. In former times, and still amongst some foreign troops, a gilt badge of a crescent shape, suspended from the neck, and hanging on the breast, worn by officers on duty.
GORING,or Goring-cloth. That part of the skirts of a sail cut on the bias, where it gradually widens from the upper part down to the clues. (SeeSail.)
GORMAW. A coast name for the cormorant.
GORSE. Heath or furze for breaming a vessel's bottom.
GO SLOW. The order to the engineer to cut off steam without stopping the play of the engine.
GOSSOON. A silly awkward lout.
GOTE.SeeGutter.
GOUGING. In ship-building (seeSnail-creeping). Also, a cruel practice in one or two American states, now extremely rare, in which a man's eye was squeezed out by his rival's thumb-nail, the fingers being entangled in the hair for the necessary purchase.
GOUGINGS. A synonym ofgudgeons(which see).
GOUKMEY. One of the names in the north for the gray gurnard.
GOULET. Any narrow entrance to a creek or harbour, as thegolettaat Tunis.
GOURIES. The garbage of salmon.
GOVERNMENT. Generally means the constitution of our country as exercised under the legislature of king or queen, lords, and commons.
GOVERNOR. An officer placed by royal commission in command of a fortress, town, or colony. Governors are also appointed to institutions, hospitals, and other establishments. Also, a revolving bifurcate pendulum, with two iron balls, whose centrifugal divergence equalizes the motion of the steam-engine.
GOW. An old northern term for the gull.
GOWDIE. TheCallionymus lyra, dragonet, or chanticleer.
GOWK. The cuckoo; but also used for a stupid, good-natured fellow.
GOWK-STORM. Late vernal equinoctial gales contemporary with the gowk or cuckoo.
GOWT,or Gote. A limited passage for water.
GOYLIR. A small sea-bird held to precede a storm; hence seamen call themmalifiges. Arctic gull.
GRAB. The large coasting vessel of India, generally with two masts, and of 150 to 300 tons.—To grab.In familiar language, to catch or snatch at anything with violence.
GRABBLE,To. To endeavour to hook a sunk article. To catch fish by hand in a brook.
GRAB SERVICE. Country vessels first employed by the Bombay government against the pirates; afterwards erected into the Bombay Marine.
GRACE.SeeAct of Grace.
GRADE. A degree of rank; a step in order or dignity.
GRAFTING. An ornamental weaving of fine yarns, &c., over the strop of a block; or applied to the tapered ends of the ropes, and termed pointing.
GRAINof Timber. In a transverse section of a tree, two differentgrains are seen: those running in a circular manner are called thesilver grain; the others radiate, and are calledbastard grain.—Grainis also a whirlwind not unfrequent in Normandy, mixed with rain, but seldom continues above a quarter of an hour. They may be foreseen, and while they last the sea is very turbulent; they may return several times in the same day, a dead calm succeeding.
GRAIN. In thegrain of, is immediately preceding another ship in the same direction.—Bad-grain, a sea-lawyer; a nuisance.
GRAIN-CUT TIMBER. That which is cut athwart the grain when the grain of the wood does not partake of the shape required.
GRAINED POWDER. That corned or reduced into grains from the cakes, and distinguished from mealed powder, as employed in certain preparations.
GRAINS. A five-pronged fish-spear, grains signifying branches.
GRAIN UPSET. When a mast suffers by buckles, it is said to have its grain upset. A species of wrinkle on the soft outer grain which will be found corresponding to a defect on the other side. It is frequently produced by an injudicious setting up of the rigging.
GRAM. A species of pulse given to horses, sheep, and oxen in the East Indies, and supplied to ships for feeding live-stock.
GRAMPUS. A corruption ofgran pisce. An animal of the cetacean or whale tribe, distinguished by the large pointed teeth with which both jaws are armed, and by the high falcate dorsal fin. It generally attains a length of 20 to 25 feet, and is very active and voracious.
GRAMPUS,Blowing the. Sluicing a person with water, especially practised on him who skulks or sleeps on his watch.
GRAND DIVISION. A division of a battalion composed of two companies, or ordinary divisions, in line.
GRANDSIRE. The name of a four-oared boat which belonged to Peter the Great, now carefully preserved at St. Petersburg as the origin of the Russian fleet.
GRANNY'S BEND. The slippery hitch made by a lubber.
GRANNY'S KNOT. This is a term of derision when a reef-knot is crossed the wrong way, so as to be insecure. It is the natural knot tied by women or landsmen, and derided by seamen because it cannot be untied when it is jammed.
GRAPESHOT. A missile from guns intermediate between case-shot and solid shot, having much of the destructive spread of the former with somewhat of the range and penetrative force of the latter. A round of grapeshot consists of three tiers of cast-iron balls arranged, generally three in a tier, between four parallel iron discs connected together by a central wrought-iron pin. For carronades, the grape, not being liable to such a violent dispersive shock, they are simply packed in canisters with wooden bottoms.
GRAPNEL,or Grapling. A sort of small anchor for boats, having a ring at one end, and four palmed claws at the other.—Fire grapnel.Resembling the former, but its flukes are furnished with strong fish-hook barbs on their points, usually fixed by a chain on the yard-arms of a ship, to grapple any adversary whom she intends to board, and particularly requisite in fire-ships. Also, used to grapple ships on fire, in order to tow them away from injuring other vessels.
GRAPNEL-ROPE. That which is bent to the grapnel by which a boat rides, now substituted by chain.
GRAPPLE,To. To hook with a grapnel; to lay hold of. First used by Duilius to prevent the escape of the Carthaginians.
GRASP. The handle of a sword, and of an oar. Also, the small of the butt of a musket.
GRASS. A term applied to vegetables in general. (SeeFeed of Grass.)
GRASS-COMBERS. A galley-term for all those landsmen who enter the naval service from farming counties. Lord Exmouth found many of them learn their duties easily, and turn out valuable seamen.
GRATING-DECK. A light movable deck, similar to the hatch-deck, but with open gratings.
GRATINGS. An open wood-work of cross battens and ledges forming cover for the hatchways, serving to give light and air to the lower decks. In nautical phrase, he "who can't see a hole through a grating" is excessively drunk.
GRATINGS OF THE HEAD.SeeHead-gratings.
GRATUITOUS MONEY. A term officially used for bounty granted to volunteers in Lord Exmouth's expedition against Algiers.
GRAVE,To. To clean a vessel's bottom, and pay it over.
GRAVELIN. A small migratory fish, commonly reputed to be the spawn of the salmon.
GRAVELLED. Vexed, mortified.
GRAVING. The act of cleaning a ship's bottom by burning off the impurities, and paying it over with tar or other substance, while she is laid aground during the recess of the tide. (SeeBreaming.)
GRAVING BEACHor Slip. A portion of the dockyard where ships were landed for a tide.
GRAVING-DOCK. An artificial receptacle used for the inspecting, repairing, and cleaning a vessel's bottom. It is so contrived that after the ship is floated in, the water may run out with the fall of the tide, the shutting of the gates preventing its return.
GRAVITATION. The natural tendency or inclination of all bodies towards the centre of the earth; and which was established by Sir Isaac Newton, as the great law of nature.
GRAVITY,Centre of. The centre of gravity of a ship is that point about which all parts of the body, in any situation, balance each other. (SeeSpecific Gravity.)
GRAWLS. The young salmon, probably the same asgrilse.
GRAY-FISH,and Gray-lord. Two of the many names given to theGadus carbonariusor coal-fish.
GRAYLE. Small sand. Also, an old term for thin gravel.
GRAYLING. A fresh-water fish of the Salmo tribe. (SeeOmbre.)
GRAYNING. A species of dace found on our northern coast.
GRAY-SCHOOL. A particular shoal of large salmon in the Solway about the middle of July.
GRAZE. The point at which a shot strikes and rebounds from earth or water.
GRAZING-FIRE. That which sweeps close to the surface it defends.
GREASY. Synonymous with dirty weather.
GREAT CIRCLE. One whose assumed plane passes through the centre of the sphere, dividing it equally.
GREAT-CIRCLE SAILING. Is a method for determining a series of points in an arc of a great circle between two points on the surface of the earth, for the purpose of directing a ship's course as nearly as possible on such arc; that is, on the curve of shortest distance between the place from which she sets out, and that at which she is to arrive.
GREAT GUN. The general sea-term for cannons, or officers of great repute.
GREAT GUNSand Small-arms. The general armament of a ship. Also, a slang term for the blowing and raining of heavy weather.
GREAT-LINE FISHING. That carried on over the deeper banks of the ocean. (SeeLine-fishing.) It is more applicable to hand-fishing, as on the banks of Newfoundland, in depths over 60 fathoms.
GREAT OCEAN. The Pacific, so called from its superior extent.
GREAT SHAKES.SeeShake.
GREAVES. Armour for the legs.
GRECALE. A north-eastern breeze off the coast of Sicily,Greecelying N.E.
GREEN. Raw and untutored; a metaphor from unripe fruit—thus Shakspeare makes Pandulph say:
"How green are you and fresh in this old world!"
GREEN-BONE. The trivial name of the viviparous blenny, or guffer, the backbone of which is green when boiled; also of the gar-fish.
GREEN-FISH. Cod, hake, haddock, herrings, &c., unsalted.
GREEN-HANDS. Those embarked for the first time, and consequently inexperienced.
GREEN-HORN. A lubberly, uninitiated fellow. A novice of marked gullibility.
GREENLAND DOVE. The puffinet; calledscraberin the Hebrides; about the size of a pigeon.
GREENLAND WHALE.SeeRight Whale.
GREEN-MEN. The five supernumerary seamen who had not been before in the Arctic Seas, whom vessels in the whale-fishery were obliged to bear, to get the tonnage bounty.
GREEN SEA. A large body of water shipped on a vessel's deck; it derives its name from the green colour of a sheet of water between the eye and the light when its mass is too large to be broken up into spray.
GREEN-SLAKE. The sea-weed otherwise calledlettuce-laver(which see).
GREEN TURTLE. The common name for the edible turtle, which does not yield tortoise-shell.
GREENWICH STARS. Those used for lunar computations in the nautical ephemeris.
GREEP. The old orthography ofgripe.
GREGO. A coarse Levantine jacket, with a hood. A cant term for a rough great-coat.
GRENADE. Now restricted to hand-grenade, weighing about 2 lbs., and the fuze being previously lit, is conveniently thrown by hand from the tops of ships on to an enemy's deck, from the parapet into the ditch, or generally against an enemy otherwise difficult to reach. A number of grenades, moreover, being quilted together with their fuzes outwards, called a "bouquet," is fired short distances with good effect from mortars in the latter stages of a siege.
GRENADIERS. Formerly the right company of each battalion, composed of the largest men, and originally equipped for using hand-grenades. Now-a-days the companies of a regiment are equalized in size and other matters; and the title in the British army remains only to the fine regiment of grenadier guards.
GRENADO. The old name for a live shell. Thuanus says that they were first used at the siege of Wacklindonck, near Gueldres; and that their inventor, in an experiment in Venice, occasioned the burning of two-thirds of that city.
GREVE. A low flat sandy shore; whencegravingis derived.
GREY-FRIARS. A name given to the oxen of Tuscany, with which the Mediterranean fleet was supplied.
GREY-HEAD. A fish of the haddock kind, taken on the coast of Galloway.
GREYHOUND. A hammock with so little bedding as to be unfit for stowing in the nettings.
GRIAN. A Gaelic term for the bottom, whether of river, lake, or sea.
GRIBAN. A small two-masted vessel of Normandy.
GRID. The diminutive ofgridiron.
GRIDIRON. A solid timber stage or frame, formed of cross-beams of wood, for receiving a ship with a falling tide, in order that her bottom may be examined. The Americans also use for a similar purpose an apparatus called ascrew-dock, and another known as thehydraulic-dock.
GRIFFIN,or Griff. A name given to Europeans during the first year of their arrival in India; it has become a general term for an inexperienced youngster.
GRIG. Small eels.
GRILL,To. To broil on the bars of the galley-range, as implied by its French derivation.
GRILSE. One of the salmon tribe, generally considered to be a young salmon on the return from its first sojourn at the sea; though by some still supposed to be a distinct fish.
GRIN AND BEAR IT. The stoical resignation to unavoidable hardship, which, being heard on board ship by Lord Byron, produced the fine stanza in "Childe Harold," commencing "Existence might be borne."
GRIND. A half kink in a hempen cable.
GRIP. The Anglo-Saxongrep. The handle of a sword; also a small ditch or drain. To hold, as "the anchor grips." Also, a peculiar groove in rifled ordnance.
GRIPE. Is generally formed by the scarph of the stem and keel. (SeeFore-foot.) This is retained, or shaved away, according to the object of making the vessel hold a better wind, or have greater facility in wearing.—To gripe.To carry too much weather-helm. A vessel gripes when she tends to come up into the wind while sailing close-hauled. She gripes according to her trim. If it continues it is remedied by lightening forward, or making her draw deeper aft.
GRIPED-TO. The situation of a boat when secured by gripes.
GRIPES. A broad plait formed by an assemblage of ropes, woven and fitted with thimbles and laniards, used to steady the boats upon the deck of a ship at sea. The gripes are fastened at their ends to ring-bolts in the deck, on each side of the boat; whence, passing over her middle and extremities, they are set up by means of the laniards. Gripes for a quarter boat are similarly used.
GRITT. An east-country term for the sea-crab.
GROATS. An allowance for each man per mensem, assigned formerly to the chaplain for pay.
GROBMAN. A west-country term for a sea-bream about two-thirds grown.
GRODAN. A peculiar boat of the Orcades; also the Erse for a gurnard.
GROG. A drink issued in the navy, consisting of one part of spirits diluted with three of water; introduced in 1740 by Admiral Vernon, as a check to intoxication by mere rum, and said to have been named from his grogram coat. Pindar, however, alludes to the Cyclops diluting their beverage with ten waters. As the water on board, in olden times, became very unwholesome, it was necessary to mix it with spirits, but iron tanks have partly remedied this. The addition of sugar and lemon-juice now makes grog an agreeable anti-scorbutic.
GROG-BLOSSOM. A red confluence on the nose and face of an excessive drinker of ardent spirits; though sometimes resulting from other causes.
GROG-GROG. The soft cry of the solan goose.
GROGGY,or Groggified. Rendered stupid by drinking, or incapable of performing duty by illness; as also a ship when crank, and birds when crippled.
GROGRAM. Fromgros-grain. A coarse stuff of which boat-cloaks were made. From one which Admiral Vernon wore, came the termgrog.
GROINING. A peculiar mode of submarine embankment; a quay run out transversely to the shore.
GROMAL. An old word for gromet, or apprentice.
GROMET. A boy of the crew of the ships formerly furnished by the Cinque Ports (a diminutive from the Teutonicgrom, a youth); his duty was to keep ship in harbour. Now applied to the ship's apprentices.
GROMMET,or Grummet. A ring formed of a single strand of rope, laid in three times round; used to fasten the upper edge of a sail to its stay in different places, and by means of which the sail is hoisted or lowered. Iron or wooden hanks have now been substituted. (SeeHanks.) Grommets are also used with pins for large boats' oars, instead of rowlocks, and for many other purposes.
GROMMET-WAD. A ring made of 11⁄2or 2 inch rope, having attached to it two cross-pieces or diameters of the same material; it acts by the ends of these pieces biting on the interior of the bore of the gun.
GROOVE-ROLLERS. These are fixed in a groove of the tiller-sweep in large ships, to aid the tiller-ropes, and prevent friction.
GROPERS. The ships stationed in the Channel and North Sea.
GROPING. An old mode of catching trout by tickling them with the hands under rocks or banks. Shakspeare makes the clown in "Measure for Measure" say that Claudio's offence was—