ARX. A fort or castle for the defence of a place.
ASCENDANT. The part of the ecliptic above the horizon.
ASCENDING NODE. _See_ NODES.
ASCENDING SIGNS. Those in which the sun appears to ascend towards the
north pole, or in which his motion in declination is towards the north.
ASCENSION. The act of mounting or rising upwards. (_See_ RIGHT
ASCENSION.)
ASCENSIONAL DIFFERENCE. The equinoctial arc intercepted between the
_right_ and _oblique_ ascensions (which see).
ASCENSION OBLIQUE. _See_ OBLIQUE ASCENSION.
ASCENSION RIGHT. _See_ RIGHT ASCENSION.
ASCII. The inhabitants of the torrid zone, who twice a year, being under
a vertical sun, have no shadow.
AS DEAF AS THE MAIN-MAST. Said of one who does not readily catch an
order given. Thus at sea the main-mast is synonymous with the door-post
on shore.
ASHES. _See_ WINDWARD.
ASHLAR. Blocks of stone masonry fronting docks, piers, and other
erections; this term is applied to common or freestone as they come of
various lengths, breadths, and thicknesses from the quarry.
ASHORE. Aground, on land.--To _go ashore_, to disembark from a boat.
Opposed to _aboard_.
ASH-PIT. A receptacle for ashes before the fire-bars in a steamer, or
under them in most fire-places.
ASIENTO [Sp.] A sitting, contract, or convention; such as that between
Spain and other powers in relation to the supply of stores for South
America.
ASK, OR ASKER. A name of the water-newt.
ASKEW. Awry, crooked, oblique.
ASLANT. Formed or placed in an oblique line, as with dagger-knees,
&c.--_To sail aslant_, turning to windward.
ASLEEP. The sail filled with wind just enough for swelling or bellying
out,--as contrasted with its flapping.
ASPECT. The looming of the land from sea-ward.
ASPER. A minute Turkish coin in accounts, of which three go to a para.
ASPIC. An ancient 12-pounder piece of ordnance, about 11 feet long.
ASPIRANT DE MARINE. Midshipman in the French navy.
ASPORTATION. The carrying of a vessel or goods illegally.
ASSAIL, TO. To attack, leap upon, board, &c.
ASSAULT. A hostile attack. The effort to storm a place, and gain
possession of a post by main force.
ASSEGAI. The spear used by the Kaffirs in South Africa; it is frequently
feather-bent to revolve in its flight.
ASSEGUAY. The knife-dagger used in the Levant.
ASSEMBLY. That long roll beat of the drum by which soldiers, or armed
parties, are ordered to repair to their stations. It is sometimes called
the _fall-in_.
ASSES'-BRIDGE. The well-known name of prop. 5, b. i. of Euclid, the
difficulty of which makes many give in.
ASSIEGE, TO. To besiege, to invest or beset with an armed force.
ASSIGNABLE. Any finite geometrical ratio, or magnitude that can be
marked out or denoted.
ASSILAG. The name given in the Hebrides to a small sea-bird with a black
bill. The stormy petrel.
ASSISTANCE. Aid or help: strongly enjoined to be given whenever a signal
is made requiring it.
ASSISTANT-SURGEON. The designation given some years ago to those
formerly called "surgeon's mates," and considered a boon by the corps.
ASSORTMENT. The arrangement of goods, tools, &c., in a series.
ASSURANCE. (_See_ MARINE INSURANCE.) Conveyance or deed: in which light
Shakspeare makes Tranio say that his father will "pass assurance."
ASSURGENT. A heraldic term for a man or beast rising out of the sea.
ASSUROR. He who makes out the policy of assurance for a ship: he is not
answerable for the neglect of the master or seamen.
A-STARBOARD. The opposite to _a-port_.
A-STAY. Said of the anchor when, in heaving in, the cable forms such an
angle with the surface as to appear in a line with the stays of the
ship.--_A long stay_ apeek is when the cable forms an acute angle with
the water's surface, or coincides with the main-stay--_short stay_ when
it coincides with the fore-stay.
ASTELLABRE. The same as _astrolabe_.
ASTERIA. _See_ SEA-STAR.
ASTERISM. Synonymous with _constellation_, a group of stars.
ASTERN. Any distance behind a vessel; in the after-part of the ship; in
the direction of the stern, and therefore the opposite of _ahead_.--_To
drop astern_, is to be left behind,--when abaft a right angle to the
keel at the main-mast, she drops astern.
ASTEROIDS. The name by which the minor planets between the orbits of
Jupiter and Mars were proposed to be distinguished by Sir W. Herschel.
They are very small bodies, which have all been discovered since the
commencement of the present century; yet their present number is over
eighty.
ASTRAGAL. A moulding formerly round a cannon, at a little distance from
its breech, the _cascabel_, and another near the muzzle. It is a half
round on a flat moulding.
ASTRAL. Sidereal, relating to the stars.
ASTROLABE. An armillary sphere.--_Sea-astrolabe_, a useful graduated
brass ring, with a movable index, for taking the altitude of stars and
planets: it derived its name from the armillary sphere of Hipparchus, at
Alexandria.
ASTROMETRY. The numerical expression of the apparent magnitudes of the
so-called fixed stars.
ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK. A capital bit of horology, the pendulum of which is
usually compensated to sidereal time, for astronomical purposes. (_See_
SIDEREAL TIME.)
ASTRONOMICAL HOURS. Those which are reckoned from noon or midnight of
one natural day, to noon or midnight of another.
ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS. There have been occasional slight records of
celestial phenomena from the remotest times, but the most useful ones
are those collected and preserved by Ptolemy. Since 1672, science has
been enriched with a continued series of astronomical observations of
accuracy and value never dreamed of by the ancients.
ASTRONOMICAL PLACE OF A STAR OR PLANET. Its longitude or place in the
ecliptic, reckoned from the first point of Aries, according to the
natural order of the signs.
ASTRONOMICAL TABLES. Tables for facilitating the calculation of the
apparent places of the sun, moon, and planets.
ASTRONOMICALS. The sexagesimal fractions.
ASTRONOMY. The splendid department of the mixed sciences which teaches
the laws and phenomena of the universal system. It is _practical_ when
it treats of the magnitudes, periods, and distances of the heavenly
bodies; and _physical_ when it investigates the causes. In the first
division the more useful adaptation _nautical_ is included (which see).
ASTROSCOPIA. Skill in examining the nature and properties of stars with
a telescope.
ASTRUM, OR ASTRON. Sirius, or the Dog-star. Sometimes applied to a
cluster of stars.
ASWIM. Afloat, borne on the waters.
ASYLUM. A sanctuary or refuge; a name given to a benevolent institution
at Greenwich, for 800 boys and 200 girls, orphans of seamen and marines.
The Royal Military Asylum is also an excellent establishment of a
similar nature at Chelsea, besides numerous others.
ASYMMETRY. A mathematical disproportion. The relation of two quantities
which have no measure in common.
ASYMPTOTES. Lines which continually approximate each other, but can
never meet.
ATABAL. A Moorish kettle-drum.
ATAGHAN. _See_ YATAGHAN.
AT ANCHOR. The situation of a vessel riding in a road or port by her
anchor.
ATAR. A perfume of commerce, well known as atar-of-roses; atar being the
Arabic word for fragrance, corrupted into _otto_.
A'TAUNTO, OR ALL-A-TAUNT-O. Every mast an-end and fully rigged.
ATEGAR. The old English hand-dart, named from the Saxon _aeton_, to
fling, and _gar_, a weapon.
ATHERINE. A silvery fish used in the manufacture of artificial pearls;
it is 4 or 5 inches long, inhabits various seas, but is taken in great
numbers in the Mediterranean. It is also called _argentine_.
ATHILLEDA. The rule and sights of an astrolabe.
ATHWART. The transverse direction; anything extending or across the line
of a ship's course.--_Athwart hawse_, a vessel, boat, or floating lumber
accidentally drifted across the stem of a ship, the transverse position
of the drift being understood.--_Athwart the fore-foot_, just before the
stem; ships fire a shot in this direction to arrest a stranger, and make
her bring-to.--_Athwart ships_, in the direction of the beam; from side
to side: in opposition to _fore-and-aft_.
ATHWART THE TIDE. _See_ ACROSS THE TIDE.
ATLANTIC. The sea which separates Europe and Africa from the Americas,
so named from the elevated range called the Atlas Mountains in Morocco.
ATLANTIDES. The daughters of Atlas; a name of the Pleiades.
ATLAS. A large book of maps or charts; so called from the character of
that name in ancient mythology, son of Uranus, and represented as
bearing the world on his back. Also the Indian satin of commerce.
ATMOSPHERE. The ambient air, or thin elastic fluid which surrounds the
globe, and gradually diminishing in gravity rises to an unknown height,
yet by gravitation partakes of all its motions.
ATMOSPHERIC OR SINGLE-ACTION STEAM-ENGINE. A condensing machine, in
which the downward stroke of the piston is performed by the pressure of
the atmosphere acting against a vacuum.
ATMOSPHERICAL TIDES. The motions generated by the joint influence of the
sun and moon; and by the rotatory and orbital course of the earth,--as
developed in trade-winds, equinoctial gales, &c.
ATOLLS. An Indian name for those singular coral formations known as
lagoon-islands, such as the Maldive cluster, those in the Pacific, and
in other parts within the tropics, where the apparently insignificant
reef-building zoophytes reside.
ATRIE. To bring the ship to in a gale.
A-TRIP. The anchor is _a-trip_, or a-weigh, when the purchase has just
made it break ground, or raised it clear. Sails are _a-trip_ when they
are hoisted from the cap, sheeted home, and ready for trimming. Yards
are _a-trip_ when swayed up, ready to have the stops cut for crossing:
so an upper-mast is said to be _a-trip_, when the fid is loosened
preparatory to lowering it.
ATTACHED. Belongs to; in military parlance an officer or soldier is
attached to any regiment or company with which he is ordered to do duty.
ATTACK. A general assault or onset upon an enemy. Also the arrangement
for investment or battle. (_See_ FALSE ATTACK.)
ATTEMPT, TO. To endeavour to carry a vessel or place by surprise; to
venture at some risk, as in trying a new channel, &c.