Lectionary Calendar
Tuesday, November 5th, 2024
the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Bible Encyclopedias
Hawser

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

Search for…
or
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
Prev Entry
Haworth
Next Entry
Hawthorn
Resource Toolbox
Additional Links

(in sense and form as if from "hawse," which, from the 16th-century form liaise, is derived from Teutonic hats, neck, of which there is a Scandinavian use in the sense of the forepart of a ship; the two words are not etymologically connected; "hawser" is from an O. Fr. haucier, hausser, to raise, tow, hoist, from the Late Lat. altiare, to lift, altus, high), a small cable or thick rope used at sea for the purposes of mooring or warping, in the case of large vessels made of steel. When a cable or tow line is made of three or more small ropes it is said to be "hawser-laid." The "hawse" of a ship is that part of the bows where the "hawse-holes" are made. These are two holes cut in the bows of a vessel for the cables to pass through, having small cast-iron pipes, called "hawse-pipes," fitted into them to prevent abrasion. In bad weather at sea these holes are plugged up with "hawse-plugs" to prevent the water entering. The phrase to enter the service by the "hawse-holes" is used of those who have risen from before the mast to commissioned rank in the navy. When the ship is at anchor the space between her head and the anchor is called "hawse," as in the phrase "athwart the hawse." The term also applies to the position of the ship's anchors when moored; when they are laid out in a line at right angles to the wind it is said to be moored with an "open hawse"; when both cables are laid out straight to their anchors without crossing, it is a "clear hawse."

Bibliography Information
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Hawser'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​bri/​h/hawser.html. 1910.
 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile