ABSENCE. A permission occasionally obtained, on urgent affairs, by officers to quit their duties.
ABSOLUTE. Anything free from conditions.--_Absolute equations_, the sum of the optic and eccentric equation, or the anomalies arising from a planet's not being equally distant from the earth at all times, and its motion not being uniform.--_Absolute gravity_ is the whole force with which a body tends downwards.
ABSORPTION. A term formerly used for the sinking of islands and tracts of land, instead of _subsidence_.
ABSQUATULATE. _See_ SQUATTER.
ABSTRACT. A brief register of the warrant officer's stores, by which the supplies, expenses, and remains are duly balanced. An _abstract log_ contains the most important subjects of a ship's log.
ABSTRACT MATHEMATICS, OR PURE. The branch which investigates and demonstrates the properties of magnitude, figure, or quantity, absolutely and generally considered, without restriction to any species in particular; such as arithmetic and geometry.
A-BURTON. The situation of casks when they are stowed in the hold athwart ship, or in a line with the beam.
ABUT. When two timbers or planks are united endways, they are said to _butt_ or _abut_ against each other. (_See_ BUTT.)
ABYME. Places supposed to be the site of constant whirlpools, such as Charybdis, the Maelstrom, and others. It means generally an abyss.
ABYSS. A deep mass of waters; in hydrography it was synonymous with _gulf_.
ACADEMITE. An old term for an officer brought up at the Royal Navy Academy at Portsmouth, afterwards named the Royal Naval College.
ACAIR-PHUILL. Compounded of the British _acair_ or anchor, and _phuill_, a pill, or harbour, and means a safe anchorage.
ACALEPHAE. A class of marine animals of low organization, having a translucent jelly-like structure, and frequently possessing the property of stinging, whence their name ({akalephe}, a nettle). The common jelly-fish (_Medusa_) and the Portuguese man-of-war (_Physalia_) are the best-known examples.
ACAST. The old word for _lost_ or _cast-away_. In weighing anchor the head-yards are generally braced _acast_, to cause the vessel to cast in the direction. "Does she take _acast_?" is frequently the question of the officer abaft.
ACATER. An old word for purveyor of victuals, whence _caterer_, or superintendent and provider of a mess. Thus in Ben Jonson's "The Devil is an Ass"--
"He is my wardrobe-man, my _acater_, Cook, butler, and steward."
ACATES. Victuals; provisions purchased; delicious food; dainties.
ACATIUM. A word used in Roman naval affairs for a small boat, and also the main-mast of a ship.
ACCELERATION. The increase of velocity in a moving body by the force of gravity. A planet is said to be accelerated when its actual diurnal motion exceeds its mean. In fixed stars the acceleration is the mean time by which they anticipate the sun's diurnal revolution, which is 3' 56" nearly.--_Acceleration of the moon_ is the increase of her mean motion, caused by a slow change in the excentricity of the terrestrial orbit, and which has sensibly diminished the length of the moon's revolution since the time of the earliest observations.
ACCESS. Means of entry on board.
ACCESSIBLE. A place which can be approached by land or sea.
ACCLIVITY. The upward slope of an inclined cliff.
ACCOIL, TO. To coil together, by folding round. (_See_ COIL.)
ACCOLADE [_ad_ and _collum_, Lat.] The ceremony of dubbing a knight, and the consequent embrace formerly customary on the occasion.
ACCOMMODATIONS. Cabins fitted for passengers.--_Accommodation ladder_, a convenient flight of steps fixed at the gangway, by which officers and visitors enter the ship.--_Accommodation_, the physical application of one thing to another by analogy.
ACCOMPANY, TO. To sail together; to sail in convoy.
ACCOST, TO. To pass within hail of a ship; to sail coastwise; to approach, to draw near, or come side by side.
ACCOUNT, GOING UPON. A phrase for buccaneering.
ACCOUNTANT-GENERAL OF THE NAVY. Superintendent of pay and general accounts of the navy.
ACCOUNTS. The several books and registers of stores, provisions, slops, and contingents of a ship or fleet; and they are strictly enjoined to be correct, real, and precise, both in receipt and expenditure.--_Account sales_, a form of book-keeping in commerce.
ACCOUTREMENT. An old term for an habiliment, or part of the trappings and furniture of a soldier or knight; now generally used for the belts, pouches, and equipments of soldiers or marines.
ACCUL. A word used by old voyagers for the end of a deep bay; it is corrupted from _cul de sac_.
ACHATOUR. The old word for caterer of a mess.
ACHERNAR. A star of the first magnitude in the constellation Eridanus, called by navigators the "Spring of the River." It is invisible in our latitude. ({a} Eridani.) Properly should be _acher nahr_.
ACHIEVEMENT. A signal exploit; escutcheon; armorial bearings granted for achievement.
ACHROMATIC. An optical term applied to those telescopes in which aberration of the rays of light, and the colours dependent thereon, are partially corrected. (_See_ APLANATIC.)
ACHRONICAL. An ancient term, signifying the rising of the heavenly bodies at sunset, or setting at sunrise.
ACKER. _See_ EAGRE or AIGRE. Also, an eddying ripple on the surface of flooded waters. A tide swelling above another tide, as in the Severn. (_See_ BORE.)
ACK-MEN, OR ACK-PIRATES. Fresh-water thieves; those who steal on navigable rivers.
A-COCKBILL (_see_ COCK-BILL). The anchor hangs by its ring at the cat-head, in a position for dropping.
ACOLYTE. A term sometimes used to distinguish the smaller component of a double star. A subordinate officer in the ancient church.
ACON. A flat-bottomed Mediterranean boat or lump, for carrying cargoes over shoals.
ACQUITTANCE. A commercial term, more generally called _quittance_ (which see).
ACRE, OR ACRE-FIGHT. An old duel fought by warriors between the frontiers of England and Scotland, with sword and lance. This duelling was also called _camp-fight_.
ACROSS THE TIDE. A ship riding across tide, with the wind in the direction of the tide, would tend to leeward of her anchor; but with a weather tide, or that running against the wind, if the tide be strong, would tend to windward. A ship under sail should prefer the tack that stems the tide, with the wind _across the stream_, when the anchor is let go.
ACROSTOLIUM. A buckler, helmet, or other symbolical ornament on the prow of ancient ships; the origin of the modern figure-head.
ACT AND INTENTION. Must be united in admiralty law.
ACTE. A peninsula; the term was particularly applied by the ancients to the sea-coast around Mount Athos.
ACT OF COURT. The decision of the court or judge on the verdict, or the overruling of the court on a point of law.
ACT OF GOD. This comprehends all sudden accidents arising from physical causes, as distinguished from _human_ agency, such as from lightning, earthquakes, hurricanes, plagues, and epidemic contagion amongst the crew. For none of these are ship-owners responsible.
ACT OF GRACE. An act of parliament for a general and free pardon to deserters from the service and others.
ACTING COMMISSION. When a commissioned officer is invalided, his vacancy is filled up pending the pleasure of the admiralty by an acting order. But when an officer dies on a station, where the admiralty delegates the power to the admiral commanding in chief, the vacancy is filled by an acting commission. Thus also rear-admirals now act on acting commissions as vice-admirals during command on their station, but return to their proper position on the navy list when it ceases.
ACTION. Synonymous with _battle_. Also a term in mechanics for the effort which one body exerts against another, or the effects resulting therefrom.--_Action and reaction_, the mutual, successive, contrary impulses of two bodies.
ACTIVE SERVICE. Duty against an enemy; operations in his presence. Or in the present day it denotes serving on full-pay, on the active list, in contradistinction to those who are virtually retired, and placed on separate lists.
ACTIVITY. The virtue of acting. The sphere of _activity_ is the surrounding space to which the efficacy of a body extends, as the attraction of the magnet.
ACTO, OR ACTON. A kind of defensive tunic, made of quilted leather, or other strong material, formerly worn under the outer dress, and even under a coat of mail.
ACTUARIAE. Long light vessels of the ancients, especially contrived for swiftness; propelled both by sails and oars; of the latter never less than twenty.
ACUMBA. Oakum. The Anglo-Saxon term for the _hards_, or the coarse part, of flax or unplucked wool.
ACUTE. Terminating in a point, and opposed to _obtuse_. An _acute_ angle is less than a right one, or within 90 deg.
ACUTE-ANGLED TRIANGLE. That which has all its angles acute.
ADAMANT. The loadstone; the magnet--the sense in which it was held by early voyagers; but others considered it a "precyowse stone," or gem.
ADAMAS. The moon in nautic horoscopes.
ADAPTER. A brass tube to fit the eye-end of a telescope, into which all the eye-pieces will screw.