Search the Dictionary

Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



378 words match “TACK”

BOMBARD v.
To attack with bombards or with artillery; especially, to throw shells, hot shot, etc., at or into. Next, she means to bombard Naples. Burke. His fleet bombarded and burnt down Dieppe. Wood.
BOMBARDMENT n.
An attack upon a fortress or fortified town, with shells, hot shot, rockets, etc.; the act of throwing bombs and shot into a town or fortified place.
BONE n.
true turquoise. -- Bone whale (Zoöl.), a right whale. -- To be upon the bones of, to attack. [Obs.] -- To make no bones, to make no scruple; not to hesitate. [Low] -- To pick a bone with, to quarrel with, as dogs quarrel over a bone; to settle a disagreement. [Colloq.]
BOWSE v.
To pull or haul; as, to bowse upon a tack; to bowse away, i. e., to pull all together.
BOXHAUL v.
To put (a vessel) on the other tack by veering her short round on her heel; -- so called from the circumstance of bracing the head yards abox (i. e., sharp aback, on the wind). Totten.
BOXHAULING n.
A method of going from one tack to another. See Boxhaul.
BRACE v.
; as, to brace the yards. To brace about (Naut.), to turn (a yard) round for the contrary tack. -- To brace a yard (Naut.), to move it horizontally by means of a brace. -- To brace in (Naut.), to turn (a yard) by hauling in the weather brace. -- To brace one's self, to call up one's energies. "He braced himself for…
BRASH n.
the mouth; pyrosis. -- Weaning brash (Med.), a severe form of diarrhea which sometimes attacks children just weaned.
BRAVERY n.
nd double change of bravery. Shak. Like a stately ship . . . With all her bravery on, and tackle trim. Milton.
BREECHING n.
e sheet iron casing at the end of boilers to convey the smoke from the flues to the smokestack.
BRICK n.
a regular form, usually rectangular, and sun-dried, or burnt in a kiln, or in a heap or stack called a clamp. The Assyrians appear to have made much less use of bricks baked in the furnace than the Babylonians. Layard.
BULL n.
aiting, the practice of baiting bulls, or rendering them furious, as by setting dogs to attack them. -- John Bull, a humorous name for the English, collectively; also, an Englishman. "Good-looking young John Bull." W. D.Howells. -- To take the bull by the horns, to grapple with a difficulty instead of avoiding it.…
BULWARK n.
That which secures against an enemy, or defends from attack; any means of defense or protection. The royal navy of England hath ever been its greatest defense, . . . the floating bulwark of our island. Blackstone.
BUMKIN n.
ojecting beam or boom; as: (a) One projecting from each bow of a vessel, to haul the fore tack to, called a tack bumpkin. (b) Onr from each quarter, for the main-brace blocks, and called brace bumpkin. (c) A small outrigger over the stern of a boat, to extend the mizzen. [Written also boomkin.]
BURTON n.
A peculiar tackle, formed of two or more blocks, or pulleys, the weight being suspended of a hook block in the bight of the running part.
CABBAGE n.
. -- Cabbage worm (Zoöl.), the larva of several species of moths and butterfies, which attacks cabbages. The most common is usully the larva of a white butterfly. See Cabbage Butterfly, above. The cabbage cutworms, which eat off the stalks or young plants during the night, are the larvæ of several species of moths, of…
CABURN n.
A small line made of spun yarn, to bind or worm cables, seize tackles, etc.
CAMISADE; CAMISADO n. 2 definitions
by soldiers over their uniform, in order to be able to recognize one another in a night attack.
CANNONADE n. 2 definitions
r the purpose of destroying an army, or battering a town, ship, or fort; -- usually, an attack of some continuance. A furious cannonade was kept up from the whole circle of batteries on the devoted towm. Prescott.
CAPSHEAF n.
The top sheaf of a stack of grain: (fig.) the crowning or finishing part of a thing.
← Previous Page 5 of 19 Next →