ALEMAYNE. The early name for Germany.
ALERT. On the look-out, and ready for any sudden duty. Nearly synonymous with _alarm_. _Alerto_--called frequently by Spanish sentinels.
ALEWIFE. The _Clupea alosa_, a fish of the herring kind, which appears in the _Philosophical Transactions_ for 1678, as the _aloofe_; the corruption therefore was a ready one.
ALEXIACUS. The appellation under which Neptune was implored to protect the nets of the tunny fisheries from the sword-fish.
ALFERE, OR ALFEREZ [_alfier_, Fr.; _alferez_, Span.] Standard-bearer; ensign; cornet. The old English term for ensign; it was in use in our forces till the civil wars of Charles I.
ALFONDIZA. The custom-house at Lisbon.
ALGA. A species of millepora.
ALGAE. Sea-weeds, and the floating scum-like substances on fresh water; they deserve to be more studied, for some, as dulse, laver, badderlocks, &c., are eatable, and others are useful for manure.
ALGEBRA. A general method of resolving mathematical problems, by means of equations, or rather computing abstract quantities by symbols or signs; a literal arithmetic.
ALGENIB. A principal star ({g}) in Pegasus.
ALGERE. A spear used by fishermen in olden times.
ALGIER DUTY. An imposition laid on merchants' goods by the Long Parliament, for the redemption of captives in the Mediterranean.
ALGOL. A wonderful variable star in Perseus, which goes through its changes in about two days and twenty-one hours.
ALGOLOGY. Scientific researches into the nature of sea-plants.
ALGORAB. A star taking rank as the {a} of Corvus, but its brightness of late is rivalled by {b} Corvi.
ALHIDADE. An Arabic name for the index or fiducial of an astronomical or geometrical instrument, carrying sight or telescope; used by early navigators. A rule on the back of a common astrolabe, to measure heights, &c.
ALIEN. Generally speaking, one born in a foreign country, out of the king's allegiance; but if the parents be of the king's obedience, the child is no alien. An alien enemy, or person under the allegiance of the state at war with us, is not _generally_ disabled from being a witness in admiralty courts; nor are debts due to him forfeited, but only suspended.--_Alien's duty_, the impost laid on all goods imported into England in foreign bottoms, over and above the regular customs.
ALIGNMENT. An imaginary line, drawn to regulate the order of a squadron.
ALIQUOT PART. That which will exactly divide a number, leaving no remainder.
ALL. The total quantity; quite; wholly.--_All aback_, when all the sails are taken aback by the winds.--_All ahoo_, or _all-a-ugh_, confused; hanging over; crooked.--_All-a-taunt-o_, a ship fully rigged, with masts in and yards crossed.--_All hands_, the whole ship's company.--_All hands ahoy_, the boatswain's summons for the whole crew to repair on deck, in distinction from the watch.--_All hands make sail!_ the cheering order when about to chase a strange vessel.--_All hands to quarters!_ the call in armed merchantmen, answering to the _Beat to quarters_ in a man-of-war.--_All in the wind_, when a vessel's head is too close to the wind, so that all her sails are shivering.--_All over_, resemblance to a particular object, as a ship in bad kelter: "she's a privateer _all over_."--_All overish_, the state of feeling when a man is neither ill nor well, restless in bed and indifferent to meals. In the tropics this is considered as the premonitory symptom of disease, and a warning which should be looked to.--_All ready_, the answer from the tops when the sails are cast loose, and ready to be dropped.--_All standing_, fully equipped, or with clothes on. To be brought up _all standing_, is to be suddenly checked or stopped, without any preparation.--_Paid off all standing_, without unrigging or waiting to return stores; perhaps recommissioned the next day or hour.--_All's well_, the sentry's call at each bell struck (or half hour) between the periods of broad daylight, or from 8 P.M. to 4 A.M.--_All to pieces_, a phrase used for out-and-out, extremely, or excessively; as, "we beat her in sailing _all to pieces_."--_All weathers_, any time or season; continually.
ALLAN. A word from the Saxon, still used in the north to denote a piece of land nearly surrounded by a stream.
ALLEGE. A French ballast-boat.
ALLEGIANCE. The legal obedience of a subject to his sovereign in return for the protection afforded; a debt which, in a natural-born subject, cannot be cancelled by any change of time, or place, or circumstance, without the united consent of the legislature.
ALLER-FLOAT, OR ALLER-TROUT. A species of fine trout frequenting the shady holes under the roots of the _aller_ or alder tree, on the banks of rivers and brooks.
ALLIANCE. A league or confederacy between sovereigns or states, for mutual safety and defence. Subjects of allies cannot trade with the common enemy, on pain of the property being confiscated as prize to the captors.
ALLICIENCY. The attractive power of the magnet.
ALLIGATOR [from the Spanish _lagarto_]. The crocodile of America. The head of this voracious animal is flat and imbricate; several of the under teeth enter into and pass through the upper jaw; the nape is naked; on the tail are two rough lateral lines.
ALLIGATOR WATER. The brackish water inside the mouths of tropical rivers, with white and muddy surface running into the sea.
ALLISION. Synonymous in marine law with _collision_, though the jurists of Holland introduce it to mark a distinction between one vessel running against another and two vessels striking each other.
ALLOCUTION. The harangue anciently made by the Roman generals to exhort their forces.
ALLOTMENT. A part of the pay apportioned monthly to the wives, children, mothers, or destitute fathers of the warrant and petty officers, seamen, and marines of ships of war on foreign stations. In the merchant service all such stipulations for allotting any portion of a seaman's wages during his absence must be inserted in the agreement.
ALLOTMENT-LIST. A document containing the requisite details, attested by the four signing officers, to be transmitted to the Navy Office.
ALLOTTING. Persons agreeing to buy a ship's cargo appoint a disinterested person to allot a share to each by affixing their respective names.
ALLOW, TO. To concede a destined portion of stores, &c.
ALLOWANCE. The ration or allotted quantum of provisions which each individual receives; and it is either double, full, two-thirds, half, or short, according to incidents.
ALLUVION. An accretion formed along sea-shores and the banks of rivers by the deposition of the various substances held in solution or washed by the waters. Sea alluvions differ from those of rivers, in that they form a slope _towards_ the land.
ALLY. A friendly or confederated state.
ALMACANTARS. Circles parallel to the horizon, and supposed to pass through every degree of the meridian. An Arabic term, synonymous with _parallels of latitude_.
ALMACANTARS STAFF. An instrument formerly used at sea for observing the sun's amplitude, formed of an arc of about 15 degrees.
ALMADIA. A small African canoe, made of the bark of trees. Some of the larger square-sterned negro-boats are also thus designated.
ALMAFADAS. Large dunnage cut on the coast of Portugal.
ALMAGEST. The celebrated work of Ptolemy on geometry and astronomy. Ricciolus adopted the term in 1651 for his _Body of Mathematical Science_. It became general, whence Chaucer--
"His _Almagiste_ and bookes, grete and small."
ALMANAC. A record of the days, feasts, and celestial phenomena of the year. Though confounded with calendar, it is essentially different--the latter relating to time in general, and the almanac to that of a year; but the term calendar can be properly used for a particular year. (_See_ EPHEMERIS.)
ALMATH [_Hamal_]. The star in Aries whence the first mansion of the moon takes its name. The Frankeleine in Chaucer says:--
"And by his eighte speres in his werking, He knew ful wel how far _Alnath_ was shove Fro the hed of thilke fix Aries above, That in the ninthe spere considered is."
ALMIRANTE. A great sea-officer or high-admiral in Spain.
ALMIRANTESA. The wife of an admiral.
ALMURY. The upright part of an astrolabe.
ALNUS CAVER. Transport-ships of the early English, so called from the wood of which they were constructed.
ALOFT [Anglo-Saxon, _alofte_, on high]. Above; overhead; on high. Synonymous with up above the tops, at the mast-head, or anywhere about the higher yards, masts, and rigging of ships.--_Aloft there!_ the hailing of people in the tops.--_Away aloft!_ the command to the people in the rigging to climb to their stations. Also, heaven: "Poor Tom is gone _aloft_."
ALONDE. An old English word for ashore, on land.
ALONG [Saxon]. Lengthwise.--_Alongside_, by the side of a ship; side by side.--_Lying along_, when the wind, being on the beam, presses the ship over to leeward with the press of sail; or, _lying along_ the land.
ALONGSHORE. A common nautical phrase signifying along the coast, or a course which is in sight of the shore, and nearly parallel to it. (_See_ 'LONGSHORE.)