KILLY-LEEPIE. A name on our northern shores for the _Tringa hypoleucos_
or common sand-piper.
KILN. The dockyard building wherein planks are steamed for the purpose
of bending them to round the extremities of a ship.
KIN. _See_ KINN.
KING ARTHUR. A game played on board ship in warm climates, in which a
person, grotesquely personating King Arthur, is drenched with buckets of
water until he can, by making one of his persecutors smile or laugh,
change places with him.
KING-CRAB. The _Limulus polyphemus_ of the West Indies.
KING-FISH. The _Zeus luna_. Carteret took one at Masafuero 5-1/2 feet
long, and weighing 87 lbs. Also, the _Scomber maximus_ of the West
Indies.
KING-FISHER. The _Alcedo ispida_; a small bird of brilliant plumage
frequenting rivers and brooks, and feeding upon fish, which it catches
with great dexterity. (_See_ HALCYON.)
KING JOHN'S MEN. The Adullamites of the navy.
KING'S BARGAIN: GOOD OR BAD; said of a seaman according to his activity
and merit, or sloth and demerit.
KING'S BENCHER. The busiest of the galley orators: also galley-skulkers.
KING'S HARD BARGAIN. A useless fellow, who is not worth his hire.
KING'S LETTER MEN. An extinct class of officers, of similar rank with
midshipmen. The royal letter was a kind of promise that if they
conducted themselves well, they should be promoted to the rank of
lieutenant.
KING'S OWN. All the articles supplied from the royal magazines, and
marked with the broad arrow. Salt beef or junk.
KING'S PARADE. A name given to the quarter-deck of a man-of-war, which
is customarily saluted by touching the hat when stepping on it.
KINK. An accidental curling, twist, or doubling turn in a cable or rope,
occasioned by its being very stiff, or close laid, or by being drawn too
hastily out of the coil or tier in which it was coiled. (_See_
COILING.)--_To kink._ To twist.
KINKLINGS. A coast name for periwinkles.
KINN. From the Gaelic word for head; meaning, in local names, a hill or
promontory.
KINTLE. A dozen of anything. Remotely corrupted from _quintal_.