Byron writes:
Ian’s post of Australian English terms made me think of the English terms used specifically for sailing or boating. Here’s a list of many nautical terms. There are hundreds more, it’s almost a language of its own.
1. Aboard: on a vessel (assisting or in sympathy with)
2. Aboveboard: above the deck (out in the open, honest)
3. Adrift: not tied or secured (acting or living without purpose)
4. Aground: resting on the seafloor on shore (halted by circumstances)
5. Anchor: a heavy object that holds a vessel in place (a person or thing that figuratively keeps another person or thing steady)
6. Awash: water level with or slightly covering the deck (overwhelmed)
7. Bail: to throw out seawater or rainwater that has collected in a vessel (to help, or to abandon)
8. Ballast: stabilizing weights placed in the hull of a vessel (something that steadies or weighs down)
9. Beachcomber: a sailor without a berth or a shipboard assignment (a person living on or near a beach or the shore or one who searches such areas for salvage, or both)
10. Bearing: one’s position (posture or deportment)
11. Becalm: to come to a stop because of a lack of wind (to halt progress)
12. Berth: a sailor’s assignment, or a sailor’s bunk (a position or placement, in a location or in rankings)
13. Bilge: the lowest part of a hull (outdated or useless comments or ideas)
14. Capsize: to overturn (to ruin or interfere)
15. Chart: a navigational map, or to map a course (a display of graphical information, or to set a course)
16. Cockpit: a steering or berthing compartment (the pilot’s compartment in an airplane, or a place for cockfighting or location notorious for violence)
17. Course: the direction a ship is sailing (a procedure or a way of acting)
18. Current: a movement of water (the prevailing mood or tendency)
19. Heading: the direction a ship is sailing (one’s course)
20. Headway: progress or rate of progress in sailing (progress in general)
21. Helm: steering apparatus, or to operate such equipment (a position of leadership, or to lead)
22. Jury rig: to rig makeshift equipment (to make a quick fix using available materials)
23. Keel: the backbone of a vessel, running along the center of the hull (balance, as when someone is on an even keel)
24. Keelhaul: to drag a sailor underneath the ship along the hull as punishment (to punish severely)
25. Leeway: sideways movement of a vessel because of current or wind (flexibility)
Until next time