BLADE OF AN ANCHOR. That part of the arm prepared to receive the palm.
BLADE OR WASH OF AN OAR. Is the flat part of it which is plunged into
the water in rowing. The force and effect in a great measure depends on
the length of this part, when adequate force is applied. When long oars
are used, the boat is generally single-banked, so that the fulcrum is
removed further from the rower. Also, the motive part of the
screw-propeller.
BLAE, OR BLEA. The alburnum or sap-wood of timber.
BLAKE. Yellow. North of England.
BLANK. Level line mark for cannon, as point-blank, equal to 800 yards.
It was also the term for the white mark in the centre of a butt, at
which the arrow was aimed.
BLANKET. The coat of fat or blubber under the skin of a whale.
BLARE, TO. To bellow or roar vehemently.--_Blare_, a mixture of hair and
tar made into a kind of paste, used for tightening the seams of boats.
BLARNEY. Idle discourse; obsequious flattery.
BLASHY. Watery or dirty; applied to weather, as "a blashy day," a wet
day. In parlance, trifling or flimsy.
BLAST. A sudden and violent gust of wind: it is generally of short
duration, and succeeded by a fine breeze.--_To blast_, to blow up with
gunpowder.
BLAST-ENGINE. A ventilating machine to draw off the foul air from the
hold of a ship, and induce a current of fresh air into it.
BLATHER. Thin mud or puddle. Also, idle nonsense.
BLAY. A name of the bleak.
BLAZE, TO. To fire away as briskly as possible. To blaze away is to keep
up a running discharge of fire-arms. Also, to spear salmon. Also, in the
woods, to mark a tree by cutting away a portion of its outer surface,
thus leaving a patch of whiter internal surface exposed, to call
attention or mark a track.
BLAZERS. Applied to mortar or bomb vessels, from the great emission of
flame to throw a 13-inch shell.
BLAZING STARS. The popular name of comets.
BLEAK. The _Leuciscus alburnus_ of naturalists, and the fresh-water
sprat of Isaak Walton. The name of this fish is from the Anglo-Saxon
_blican_, owing to its shining whiteness--its lustrous scales having
long been used in the manufacture of false pearls.
BLEEDING THE MONKEY. The monkey is a tall pyramidal kid or bucket, which
conveys the grog from the grog-tub to the mess--stealing from this _in
transitu_ is so termed.
BLEED THE BUOYS. To let the water out.
BLENNY. A small acanthopterygious fish (_Blennius_).
BLETHER-HEAD. A blockhead.
BLETHERING. Talking idle nonsense; insolent prate.
BLIND. A name on the west coast of Scotland for the pogge, or miller's
thumb (_Cottus cataphractus_).