ANON. Quickly, directly, immediately.
ANONYMOUS PARTNERSHIPS. Those not carried on under a special name, and the particulars known only to the parties themselves. This is much practised in France, and often occasions trouble in prize-courts.
ANSAE. The dolphins or handles of brass ordnance. Also the projections or arms of the ring on each side of Saturn's globe, in certain situations relative to the earth.
ANSERES. Birds of the goose tribe.
ANSWER, TO. To reply, to succeed; as, the frigate has _answered_ the signal. This boat will not _answer_.
ANSWERS HER HELM. When a ship obeys the rudder or steers.
ANTARCTIC. Opposite to the Arctic--abbreviated from _anti-arctic_.
ANTARCTIC CIRCLE. One of the lesser circles of the sphere, on the south parallel of the equator, and 23-1/2 deg. from the south pole.
ANTARCTIC OCEAN. That which surrounds the south pole, within the imaginary circle so called.
ANTARCTIC POLE. The south end of the earth's axis.
ANTARES. A star of the first magnitude, popularly known as the _scorpion's heart_ ({a} Scorpio): it is one of those called "nautical" stars, used for determining the latitude and longitude at night.
ANTECEDENTAL METHOD. A branch of general geometrical proportion, or universal comparison of ratios.
ANTECEDENTIA. A planet's apparent motion to the westward, contrary to the order of the signs.
ANTECEDENT OF A RATIO. The first of the two terms.
ANTECIANS. Those inhabitants of the earth who live under the same meridian, but in opposite hemispheres. (_See_ ANTISCII.)
ANTE LUCAN. Before daylight.
ANTE MERIDIAN. Before noon.
ANTE MURAL. _See_ OUTWORKS.
ANTHELION. A mock or spurious sun; a luminous meteor, resembling, but usually larger than, the solar disc.
ANTHRACITE. [Gr. _anthrax_ and _lithos_.] A stone coal demanding great draught to burn, affording great heat, little smoke, and peculiarly adapted for steamers.
ANTICHTHONES. The inhabitants of countries diametrically opposite to each other.
ANTI-GALLICANS. A pair of extra backstays, sometimes used by merchantmen, to support the masts when running before the trades.
ANTI-GUGGLER. A straw, or crooked tube, introduced into a spirit cask or neck of a bottle, to suck out the contents; commonly used in 1800 to rob the captain's steward's hanging safe in hot climates. Is to be found in old dictionaries.
ANTILOGARITHM. The complement of the logarithm of a sine, tangent, or secant.
ANTIPARALLELS. Those lines which make equal angles with two other lines, but contrary ways.
ANTIPATHES. A kind of coral having a black horny stem.
ANTIPODES. Such inhabitants of the earth as are diametrically opposite to each other. From the people, the term has passed to the places themselves, which are situated at the two extremities of any diameter of the earth.
ANTISCII. The people who dwell in opposite hemispheres of the earth, and whose shadows at noon fall in contrary directions.
ANT ISLANDS. Generally found on Spanish charts as _Hormigas_.
ANVIL. The massive block of iron on which armourers hammer forge-work. It is also an archaism for the handle or hilt of a sword: thus Coriolanus--
"Here I clip The anvil of my sword."
It is moreover a little narrow flag at the end of a lance.
ANYHOW. Do the duty by all means, and at any rate or risk: as Nelson, impatient for getting to Copenhagen in 1801, exclaimed--
"Let it be by the Sound, by the Belt, or anyhow, only lose not an hour."
ANY PORT IN A STORM signifies contentment with whatever may betide.
APAGOGE. A mathematical progress from one proposition to another.
APE, OR SEA-APE. The long-tailed shark. Also, an active American seal.
APEEK. A ship drawn directly over the anchor is _apeek_: when the fore-stay and cable form a line, it is _short stay apeek_; when in a line with the main-stay, _long stay apeek_. The anchor is _apeek_ when the cable has been sufficiently hove in to bring the ship over it.--_Yards apeek._ When they are topped up by contrary lifts. (_See_ PEAK.)
APERTAE. Ancient deep-waisted ships, with high-decked forecastle and poop.
APERTURE, in astronomy. The opening of a telescope tube next the object-glass, through which the rays of light and image of the object are conveyed to the eye. It is usually estimated by the clear diameter of the object-glass.
APEX. The summit or vertex of anything; as the upper point of a triangle.
APHELION. That point in the orbit of a planet or comet which is most remote from the sun, and at which the angular motion is slowest; being the end of the greater elliptic axis. The opposite of _perihelion_.
APHELLAN. The name of the double star {a} Geminorum, better known as Castor.
APHRACTI. Ancient vessels with open waists, resembling the present Torbay-boats.
APLANATIC. That refraction which entirely corrects the aberration and colour of the rays of light.
APLETS. Nets for the herring-fishery.
APLUSTRE. A word applied in ancient vessels both to the ornament on the prow and to the streamer or ensign on the stern. Here, as in the rudder-head of Dutch vessels frequently, the dog-vane was carried to denote the direction of the wind.
APOBATHRAE. Ancient gang-boards from the ship to the quays.
APOCATASTASIS. The time in which a planet returns to the same point of the zodiac whence it departed.
APOGEE. That point of the moon's orbit which is furthest from the earth; the opposite of _perigee_. The _apogee_ of the sun is synonymous with the _aphelion_ of the earth. The word is also used as a general term to express the greatest distance of any heavenly body from the earth.
A-POISE. Said of a vessel properly trimmed.
APOSTLES. The knight-heads or bollard timbers, where hawsers or heavy ropes are belayed.
APOTOME. The difference of two incommensurable mathematical quantities.
APPALTO. The commercial term for a monopoly in Mediterranean ports.
APPARATUS. Ammunition and equipage for war.
APPAREL. In marine insurance, means the _furniture_ or appurtenances of a ship, as masts, yards, sails, ground gear, guns, &c. More comprehensive than _apparatus_.
APPARELLED. Fully equipped for service.
APPARENT. In appearance, as visible to the eye, or evident to the mind, which in the case of astronomical motions, distances, altitudes, and magnitudes, will be found to differ materially from their real state, and require correcting to find the true place.
APPARENT EQUINOX. The position of the equinox as affected by nutation.
APPARENT HORIZON. _See_ HORIZON.
APPARENT MOTION. The motion of celestial bodies as viewed from the earth.
APPARENT NOON. The instant that the sun's centre is on the meridian of a place.
APPARENT OBLIQUITY. The obliquity of the ecliptic affected with nutation.
APPARENT PLACE OF A STAR. This is the position for any day which it seems to occupy in the heavens, as affected with aberration and nutation.
APPARENT TIME. The time resulting from an observation of the sun--an expression _per contractionem_ for apparent solar time.
APPARITION. A star or planet becoming visible after occultation. _Perpetual apparition_ of the lesser northern circles, wherein the stars being above the horizon, never set.
APPEARANCE. The first making of a land-fall: formerly astronomically used for phenomenon and phase. The day of an officer's first joining a ship after his being appointed.
APPLE-PIE ORDER. A strange but not uncommon term for a ship in excellent condition and well looked to. Neat and orderly. Absurdly said to be a corruption of _du pol au pied_.
APPLICATE. The ordinate, or right line drawn across a curve, so as to be bisected by its diameter.
APPLICATION. A word of extensive use, for the principles of adjusting, augmenting, and perfecting the relations between sciences.
APPOINTED. Commissioned--named for a special duty.
APPOINTMENT. The equipment, ordnance, furniture, and necessaries of a ship. Also an officer's commission. In the Army, _appointments_ usually imply military accoutrements, such as belts, sashes, gorgets, &c.
APPORTER. A bringer into the realm.
APPRAISEMENT. A law instrument taken out by the captors of a vessel, who are primarily answerable for the expense.
APPRENTICE. One who is covenanted to serve another on condition of being instructed in an art, and ships' apprentices are to the same effect. Boys under eighteen years of age bound to masters of merchant ships were exempted from impressment for three years from the date of their indentures; which documents were in duplicate, and exempt from stamp duty.
APPROACHES. The trenches, zig-zags, saps, and other works, by which a besieger makes good his way up to a fortified place. (_See_ TRENCHES.)
APPROVAL. The senior officer's signature to a demand or application.
APPROXIMATION. A continual approach to a quantity sought, where there is no possibility of arriving at it exactly.
APPULSE. A near approach of one heavenly body to another, so as to form an apparent contact: the term is principally used with reference to stars or planets when the moon passes close to them without causing occultation.
APRON, OR STOMACH-PIECE. A strengthening compass timber fayed abaft the lower part of the stern, and above the foremost end of the keel; that is, from the head down to the fore dead-wood knee, to which it is scarfed. It is sided to receive the fastenings of the fore-hoods or planking of the bow.--_Apron of a gun_, a square piece of sheet-lead laid over the touch-hole for protecting the vent from damp; also over the gun-lock.--_Apron of a dock_, the platform rising where the gates are closed, and on which the sill is fastened down.