"And far as I could ken thy chalky cliffs."
--_Ken_, a speck, a striking object or mark.
KENNETS. Large cleats. (_See_ KEVELS.) Also, a coarse Welsh cloth of
commerce; see statute 33 Henry VIII. c. 3.
KENNING BY KENNING. A mode of increasing wages formerly, according to
whaling law, by seeing how a man performed his duty.
KENNING-GLASS. A hand spy-glass or telescope.
KEN-SPECKLED. Conspicuous; having distinct marks.
KENTLEDGE. Pigs of iron cast for permanent ballast, laid over the
kelson-plates, or if in the limbers, then called limber-kentledge.
KENTLEDGE GOODS. In lieu of ballast.
KENT-PURCHASE. A misspelling of _cant_-purchase, or one used to turn a
whale round during the operation of _flensing_.
KEPLER'S LAWS. Three famous laws of nature detected by Kepler early in
the seventeenth century:--1. The primary planets revolve about the sun
in ellipses, having that luminary in one of the foci. 2. The planets
describe about the sun equal areas in equal times. 3. The squares of the
periodic times of the planets are to each other as the cubes of their
mean distances from the sun.
KEPLING. _See_ CAPLIN.
KERFE. The furrow or slit made by the saw in dividing timber.
KERLANGUISHES. The swift-sailing boats of the Bosphorus. The name
signifies swallows.
KERMES. A little red gall, occasioned by the puncture of the _Coccus
ilicis_ on the leaves of the _Quercus coccifera_, or Kermes oak; an
article of commerce from Spain, used in dyeing.
KERNEL. Corrupted from _crenelle_; the holes in a battlement made for
the purpose of shooting arrows and small shot.
KERNES. Light-armed Irish foot soldiers of low degree, who cleared the
way for the heavy _gallow-glasses_.
KERS. An Anglo-Saxon word for water-cresses.
KERT. An old spelling for _chart_.
KERVEL. _See_ CARVEL.
KETCH. A vessel of the galliot order, equipped with two masts--viz. the
main and mizen masts--usually from 100 to 250 tons burden. Ketches were
principally used as yachts for conveying great personages from one place
to another. The peculiarity of this rig, affording so much space before
the main-mast, and at the greatest beam, caused them to be used for
mortar-vessels, hence--_Bomb-ketches_, which are built remarkably
strong, with a greater number of riders than any other vessel of war, as
requisite to sustain the violent shock produced by the discharge of
their mortars. (_See_ BOMB-VESSEL, MORTAR, and SHELL.)
KETERINS. Marauders who formerly infested the Irish coast and channel.
KETOS, OR CETUS. An ancient ship of large dimensions.
KETTLE. The brass or metal box of a compass.
KETTLE-BOTTOM. A name applied to a ship with a flat floor.
KETTLE-NET. A net used in taking mackerel.
KETTLE OF FISH. To have made a pretty kettle of fish of it, implies a
perplexity in judgment.
KEVEL-HEADS. The ends of the top timbers, which, rising above the
gunwale, serve to belay the ropes, or to be used as kevels.
KEVELING. A coast name for the skate.
KEVELS, OR CAVILS. Large cleats, or also pieces of oak passing through a
mortice in the rail, and answer the purpose of timber-heads for belaying
ropes to.
KEY. In ship-building, means a dry piece of oak or elm, cut tapering, to
drive into scarphs that have hook-butts, to wedge deck-planks, or to
join any pieces of wood tightly to each other. Iron forelocks.
KEY, OR CAY [derived from the Spanish _cayos_, rocks]. What in later
years have been so termed will be found in the old Spanish charts as
cayos. The term was introduced to us by the buccaneers as small insular
spots with a scant vegetation; without the latter they are merely termed
sand-banks. Key is especially used in the West Indies, and often applied
to the smaller coral shoals produced by zoophytes.
KEY, OR QUAY. A long wharf, usually built of stone, by the side of a
harbour, and having posts and rings, cranes, and store-houses, for the
convenience of merchant ships.
KEYAGE, OR QUAYAGE. Money paid for landing goods at a key or quay. The
same as _wharfage_.
KEYLE. (_See_ KEEL.) The vessel of that name.
KEY-MODEL. In ship-building, a model formed by pieces of board laid on
each other horizontally. These boards, being all shaped from the lines
on the paper, when put together and fairly adjusted, present the true
form of the proposed ship.
KEY OF THE RUDDER. (_See_ WOOD-LOCKS.) In machinery, applies to wedges,
forelocks, &c.
KHALISHEES. Native Indian sailors.
KHAVIAR. _See_ CAVIARE.
KHIZR. The patron deity of the sea in the East Indies, to whom small
boats, called _beera_, are annually sacrificed on the shores and rivers.
KIBE. A flaw produced in the bore of a gun by a shot striking against
it.
KIBLINGS. Parts of a small fish used for bait on the banks of
Newfoundland.
KICK. The springing back of a musket when fired. Also, the violent
recoil by which a carronade is often thrown off the slide of its
carriage. A comparison of excellence or novelty; the very kick.
KICKSHAW. Applied to French cookery, or unsubstantial trifles.
KICK THE BUCKET, TO. To expire; an inconsiderate phrase for dying.
KICK UP A DUST, TO. To create a row or disturbance.
KID. A presuming man.--_Kiddy fellow_, neat in his dress. Also, a
compartment in some fishing-vessels, wherein the fish are thrown as they
are caught. Also, a small wooden tub for grog, with two ears; or
generally for a mess utensil of that kind. (_See_ KIT.)
KIDDLES. Stakes whereby the free passage of boats and vessels is
hindered. Also, temporary open weirs for catching fish.
KIDLEYWINK. A low beershop in our western ports.
KIDNAP, TO. To crimp or carry off by artifice.
KIDNEY. Men of the same kidney, _i.e._ of a similar disposition.
KIFTIS. The large passage-boats of India, fitted with cabins on each
side from stem to stern.
KIHAIA. An officer of Turkish ports in superintendence of customs, &c.;
often deputy-governor.
KILDERKIN. A vessel containing the eighth part of a hogshead.
KILE. _See_ KYLE.
KILL. A channel or stream, as Cats-kill, Schuylkill, &c.
KILL-DEVIL. New rum, from its pernicious effects.
KILLER. A name for the grampus, _Orca gladiator_, given on account of
the ferocity with which it attacks and destroys whales, seals, and other
marine animals. (_See_ GRAMPUS.)
KILLESE. The groove in a cross-bow.
KILLING-OFF. Striking the names of dead officers from the navy list by a
_coup de plume_.