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To dabble in water with hands or feet; to use a paddle, or something which serves as a paddle, in swimming, in paddling a boat, etc. As the men were paddling for their lives. L'Estrange. While paddling ducks the standing lake desire. Gay.

The lumpfish. [Prov. Eng.]

A large ganoid fish (Polyodon spathula) found in the rivers of the Mississippi Valley. It has a long spatula-shaped snout. Called also duck-billed cat, and spoonbill sturgeon.

One who, or that which, paddles.

The light elastic wood of the Aspidosperma excelsum, a tree of Guiana having a fluted trunk readily split into planks.

See Lumpfish. [Scot.]

A little spade. [Obs.]

, to apprehend an offender. -- To back water (Naut.), to reverse the action of the oars, paddles, or propeller, so as to force the boat or ship backward.

Water thrown back by the turning of a waterwheel, or by the paddle wheels of a steamer.

A small open vessel, or water craft, usually moved by cars or paddles, but often by a sail.

ss the deck, above the rail, for the convenience of the officer in charge of the ship; in paddlewheel vessels it connects the paddle boxes. -- Bridge of the nose, the upper, bony part of the nose. -- Cantalever bridge. See under Cantalever. -- Draw bridge. See Drawbridge. -- Flying bridge, a temporary bridge suspen…

water wheel into which the water rushes, causing the wheel to revolve; also, a float of a paddle wheel.

of a tree, excavated, by cutting of burning, into a suitable shape. It is propelled by a paddle or paddles, or sometimes by sail, and has no rudder. Others devised the boat of one tree, called the canoe. Raleigh.

or float, consisting of two or more logs or pieces of wood lashed together, and moved by paddles or sail; -- used as a surf boat and for other purposes on the coasts of the East and West Indies and South America. Modified forms are much used in the lumber regions of North America, and at life-saving stations.…

ing forth living young which they suckle for some time. The anterior limbs are changed to paddles; the tail flukes are horizontal. There are two living suborders: (a) The Mysticete or whalebone whales, having no true teeth after birth, but with a series of plates of whalebone [see Baleen.] hanging down from the upper j…

lenterata, commonly ellipsoidal in shape, swimming by means of eight longitudinal rows of paddles. The separate paddles somewhat resemble combs.

To play in water, as with the hands; to paddle or splash in mud or water. Wher the duck dabbles Wordsworth.

The float of a paddle wheel.

he ship outruns the screw; or between the propulsive effects of the different floats of a paddle wheel. See Citation under Drag, v. i., 3. Drag sail (Naut.), a sail or canvas rigged on a stout frame, to be dragged by a vessel through the water in order to keep her head to the wind or to prevent drifting; -- called also…

The angular adjustment of an oar or paddle-wheel float, with reference to a horizontal axis, as it leaves or enters the water.