BLOWE. A very old English word for scold or revile, still in use, as when a man receives a good blowing-up.
BLOW-HOLES. The nostrils of the cetaceans, situated on the highest part of the head. In the whalebone whales they form two longitudinal slits, placed side by side. In the porpoises, grampuses, &c., they are united into a single crescentic opening.
BLOW HOME. The wind does not cease or moderate till it comes past that place, blowing continuously over the land and sea with equal velocity. In a naval sense, it does not blow home when a sea-wind is interrupted by a mountainous range along shore.
BLOWING GREAT GUNS AND SMALL ARMS. Heavy gales; a hurricane.
BLOWING HARD. Said of the wind when it is strong and steady.
BLOWING THE GRAMPUS. Throwing water over a sleeper on watch.
BLOWING WEATHER. A nautical term for a continuance of strong gales. (See Gale.)
BLOWN COD. A split cod, half dried by exposure to the wind. Blown is also frequently applied to bloated herrings, when only partly cured. Also, a cod-fish rises to the surface, and is easily taken, if blown. By being hauled nearly up, and the hook breaking, it loses the power for some time of contracting the air-bladder, and thus dies head out of water.
BLOWN ITSELF OUT. Said of a falling gale of wind.
BLOW OFF, To. To clear up in the clouds.
BLOW-OFF-PIPE, in a steamer, is a pipe at the foot of each boiler, communicating with the sea, and furnished with a cock to open and shut it.—Blowing-off is the act or operation of using the blow-off-pipe to cleanse a marine steam-engine of its brine deposit; also, to clear the boilers of water, to lighten a ship if grounded.
BLOW-OUT. Extravagant feasting regardless of consequences.
BLOW OVER, (It will). Said of a gale which is expected to pass away quickly.
BLOW-PIPE. An engine of offence used by the Araucanians and Borneans, and with the latter termed sumpitan: the poisoned arrow, sumpit, will wound at the distance of 140 or more yards. The arrow is forced through (like boys' pea-shooters) by the forcible and sudden exertion of the lungs. A wafer can be hit at 30 yards to a certainty, and small birds are unerringly stunned at 30 yards by pellets of clay.
BLOW THE GAFF. To reveal a secret; to expose or inform against a person.
BLOW-THROUGH VALVE. A valve admitting steam into the condenser, in order to clear it of air and water before starting the engine.
BLOW UP, To. To abuse angrily.
BLOW-VALVE. A valve by which the first vacuum necessary for starting a steam-engine is produced.
BLUBBER. The layer of fat in whales between the skin and the flesh, which is flinched or peeled off, and boiled for oil, varying from 10 to 20 inches in thickness. (See Sea-blubber.)
BLUBBER FORKS AND CHOPPERS. The implements with which blubber is "made off," or cut for stowing away.
BLUBBER-GUY. A large rope stretched from the main to the fore mast head of whalers, to which the speck-falls are attached for the operation of flensing.
BLUE. Till all's blue: carried to the utmost—a phrase borrowed from the idea of a vessel making out of port, and getting into blue water.—To look blue, to be surprised, disappointed, or taken aback, with a countenance expressive of displeasure.
BLUE-JACKETS. The seamen as distinguished from the marines.
BLUE LIGHT. A pyrotechnical preparation for signals by night. Also called Bengal light.
BLUE-LIGHTISM. Affected sanctimoniousness.
BLUE MOON. An indefinite period.
BLUE-NOSE. A general term for a native of Nova Scotia.
BLUE PETER. The signal for sailing when hoisted at the fore-topmast head; this well-known flag has a blue ground with a white square in the centre.
BLUE PIGEON. A nickname for the sounding lead.
BLUE WATER. The open ocean.
BLUFF. An abrupt high land, projecting almost perpendicularly into the sea, and presenting a bold front, rather rounded than cliffy in outline, as with the headland.
BLUFF-BOWED. Applied to a vessel that has broad and flat bows—that is, full and square-formed: the opposite of lean.
BLUFF-HEADED. When a ship has but a small rake forward on, being built with her stem too straight up.
BLUNDERBUSS. A short fire-arm, with a large bore and wide mouth, to scatter a number of musket or pistol bullets or slugs.
BLUNK. A sudden squall, or stormy weather.
BLUSTROUS. Stormy: also said of a braggadocio.
BO. Abbreviation of boy. A familiar epithet for a comrade, derived probably from the negro.
BOADNASH. Buckhemshein coins of Barbary.
BOANGA. A Malay piratical vessel, impelled by oars.
BOARD. Certain offices under the control of the executive government, where the business of any particular department is carried on: as the Board of Admiralty, the Navy Board, Board of Ordnance, India Board, Board of Trade, &c. Also, timber sawn to a less thickness than plank: all broad stuff of under 11⁄2 inch in thickness. (See Plank.) Also, the space comprehended between any two places when the ship changes her course by tacking; or, it is the line over which she runs between tack and tack when working to windward, or sailing against the direction of the wind.—To make a good board. To sail in a straight line when close-hauled, without deviating to leeward.—To make short boards, is to tack frequently before the ship has run any great length of way.—To make a stern board, is when by a current, or any other accident, the vessel comes head to wind, the helm is shifted, and she has fallen back on the opposite tack, losing what she had gained, instead of having advanced beyond it. To make a stern board is frequently a very critical as well as seamanlike operation, as in very close channels. The vessel is allowed to run up into the wind until she has shot up to the weather danger; the helm is then shifted, and with all aback forward, she falls short off on the opposite tack. Such is also achieved at anchor in club-hauling (which see).—To board a ship, is to enter her in a hostile manner in order to take forcible possession of her, either from the attacking ship or by armed boats. The word board has various other applications among seamen:—To go aboard signifies to go into the ship.—To slip by the board, is to slip down a ship's side.—To board it up, is to beat up, sometimes on one tack and sometimes on another.—The weather-board is the side of the ship which is to windward.—By the board, close to a ship's deck.
BOARD AND BOARD. Alongside, as when two ships touch each other.
BOARDERS. Sailors appointed to make an attack by boarding, or to repel such attempt from the enemy. Four men selected from each gun were generally allotted as boarders, also to trim sails, tend pumps, repair rigging, &c.
BOARD HIM. A colloquialism for I'll ask, demand, or accost him. Hence Shakspeare makes Polonius say of Hamlet,
"I'll
