The Sailor's Word-Book Part 110

GAUT, OR GHAUT. In the East Indies, a landing-place; and also a chain of hills, as the Western Gauts, on the Mysore coast.

GAVELOCK. An iron crow. Of old, a pike; thus in Arthur and Merlin--

"Gavelokes also thicke flowe So gnattes, ichil avowe."

GAVER. A Cornish name for the sea cray-fish.

GAW. A southern term for a boat-pole.

GAWDNIE. The dragonet, or yellow gurnard; _Callionymus lyra_.

GAW-GAW. A lubberly simpleton.

GAWKY. A half-witted, awkward youth. Also, the sh.e.l.l called horse-c.o.c.kle.

GAWLIN. A small sea-fowl which the natives of the Western Isles of Scotland trust in, as a prognosticator of the weather.

GAWN-TREE. _See_ GANTREE.

GAWPUS. A stupid, idle fellow.

GAWRIE. A name for the red gurnard; _Trigla cuculus_.

GAZONS [Fr.] Sods of earth or turf, cut in wedge-shaped form, to line the parapet and face the outside of works.

GAZZETTA. The name of a small coin in the Adriatic and Levant. It was the price of the first Venetian newspaper, and thereby gave the name to those publications. In the Greek islands the word is used for ancient coins.

G.C.B. The initials for Grand Cross of the most honourable and Military Order of the Bath.

GEAR [the Anglo-Saxon _geara_, clothing]. A general name for the rigging of any particular spar or sail; and in or out of gear implies anything being fit or unfit for use.

GEARING. A complication of wheels and pinions, or of shafts and pulleys, &c.

GEARS. _See_ JEERS.

GEE, TO. To suit or fit; as, "that will just gee."

GELLYWATTE. An old term for a captain's boat, the original of _jolly-boat_. (_See_ Captain Downton's voyage to India in 1614, where "she was sent to take soundings within the sands.")

GENERAL. The commander of an army: the military rank corresponding to the naval one of admiral. The t.i.tle includes all officers above colonels, ascending with qualifying prefixes, as brigadier-general, major-general, lieutenant-general, to general, above which is nothing save the exceptional rank of field-marshal and of captain-general or commander-in-chief of the land forces of the United Kingdom.

GENERAL AVERAGE. A claim made upon the owners of a s.h.i.+p and her cargo, when the property of one or more has been sacrificed for the good of the whole.

GENERAL BREEZO. _See_ BREEZO.

GENERALISSIMO. The supreme commander of a combined force, or of several armies in the field.

GENERAL OFFICERS. All those above the rank of a colonel.

GENERAL ORDERS. The orders issued by the commander-in-chief of the forces.

GENERAL s.h.i.+P. Where persons unconnected with each other load goods on board, in contradistinction to a _chartered_ s.h.i.+p.

GENEVA PRINT. An allusion to the spirituous liquor so called,--

"And if you meet An officer preaching of sobriety, Unless he read it in _Geneva print_, Lay him by the heels."--_Ma.s.singer._

GENOUILLERE [Fr.] That part of a battery which remains above the platform, and under the gun after the opening of the embrasure. Of course a knee-step.

GENTLE. A maggot or grub used as a bait by anglers.

GENTLE GALE. In which a s.h.i.+p carries royals and flying-kites; force 4.

GENTLEMEN. The messmates of the gun-room or c.o.c.kpit--as mates, mids.h.i.+pmen, clerks, and cadets.

GEOCENTRIC. As viewed from the centre of the earth.

GEO-GRAFFY. A beverage made by seamen of burnt biscuit boiled in water.

GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION. _See_ POSITION, GEOGRAPHICAL.

GEORGIUM SIDUS. The planet discovered by Sir W. Herschel was so named at first; but astronomers adopted _Ura.n.u.s_ instead, as safer to keep in the neutral ground of mythology.

GERLETROCH. The _Salmo alpinus_, red char, or galley-trough.

GERRACK. A coal-fish in its first year.

GERRET. A samlet or parr.

GERRICK. A Cornish name for a sea-pike.

GERRON. A cant name for the sea-trout.

GESERNE. Anglo-Norman for battle-axe.

GESTLING. A meeting of the members of the Cinque Ports at Romney.

GET AFLOAT. Pulling out a grounded boat.

GET-A-PULL. The order to haul in more of a rope or tackle.

GHAUT. _See_ GAUT.

GHEE. The subst.i.tute for b.u.t.ter served out to s.h.i.+ps' companies on the Indian station.

GHOST. A false image in the lens of an instrument.

GHRIME-SAIL. The old term for a smoke-sail.