DISEMBOGUE To sail out of the mouth or strait of a gulf.
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– The Pirate Dictionary by Terry Breverton.
Category Archives: ADOTW
possum beer. A variety of homebrew made from persimmons..
– The Encyclopedia of Civil War Usage by Webb Garrison with Cheryl Garrison.
kumatage {koo-mah-TAHZH. Noun.} According to Bowditch’s Navigator (24th Edition, 1854), a kumatage is “a bright appearance in the horizon, under the sun or moon, arising from the reflected light of those bodies from the small rippling waves on the surface of the water.”
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– Endangered Words : A Collection of Rare Gems for Book Lovers by Simon Hertnon.
pro’mptuary. A storehouse; a repository; a magazine.
– Johnson’s Dictionary : A Modern Selection by Samuel Johnson (1755), ed. E. L. McAdam and George Milne (1963)
HANDFASTING * The custom of a couple shaking hands, as the Romans did over an urn, as a means of sealing a marriage engagement, from the Saxon handfaestan.
– Forgotten English : A Merry Guide to Antiquated Words, Packed with History, Fun Fact, Literary Excerpts, and Charming Drawings by Jeffrey Kacirk
POMPKIN. A man or woman of Boston in America: from, the number of pompkins raised and eaten by the people of that country. Pompkinshire; Boston and its dependencies.
– 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue : A Dictionary of British Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence (unabridged) compiled originally by Captain Grose
facinorous. Extremely wicked, infamous; grossly criminal. The word, naturally, is accented on the sin.
– Dictionary of Early English by Joseph T. Shipley (1955).
jackass A kind of heavy rough boat used in NEWFOUNDLAND. Also, U.S. Navy name for a HAWSE-bag, a canvas bag filled with OAKUM used to plug the HAWSE-HOLES to keep seawater out.
jackass rig Any rig of a sailing ship that substantially differs from the one normally associated with that type of ship.
– A Sea of Words : A Lexicon and Companion for Patrick O’Brian’s Seafaring Tales by Dean King with John B. Hattendorf and J. Worth Estes.
o’spray. The sea-eagle, of which it is reported, that when he hovers in the air, all the fish in the water turn up their bellies, and lie still for him to seize which he pleases.
– Johnson’s Dictionary : A Modern Selection by Samuel Johnson (1755), ed. E. L. McAdam and George Milne (1963)