"And if you meet
An officer preaching of sobriety,
Unless he read it in _Geneva 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. _See_ POSITION, GEOGRAPHICAL.
GEORGIUM SIDUS. The planet discovered by Sir W. Herschel was so named at
first; but astronomers adopted _Uranus_ instead, as safer to keep in the
neutral ground of mythology.
GERLETROCH. The _Salmo 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. _See_ GAUT.
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. (_See_ GYN.)
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 with _guest-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 the _Morhua 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 of _grilse_ (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. The _Sparus aurata_, a fish of the European and
American seas, with a golden mark between the eyes. (_See_ SEDOW.)
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. (_See_ COMPASS.) 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. _See_ GYMMYRT.
GIMMEL. Any disposition of rings, as links, device of machinery. (_See_
GIMBALS.)
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. _See_ JERGADO.
GINGAL. A long barrelled fire-arm, throwing a ball of from 1/4 to 1/2
lb., used throughout the East, especially in China; made to load at the
breach with a movable chamber. (_See also_ JINGAL.)