combing
n.— «Evading torpedoes, particularly when you didn’t know precisely where they were, often called for what was known as “combing” the torpedo spread. “Combing” consisted of turning the ship to a parallel course with that of the torpedoes, which in the absence of seeing the torpedoes themselves could be determined by the bearing of the attacker. By “combing,” the ship presented a narrow, head-on profile (or occasionally stern-on profile) to the torpedoes, thus making the ship a smaller target and minimizing the chance for a hit.» —“The Fuso Mysteries—The Battle of Surigao Strait” by ProCynic Pro Cynic (Indianapolis, Indiana) Oct. 28, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Mark in Bismarck, North Dakota, spent years as a sailor, and wonders about the term sea painter, meaning “a rope attached to a lifeboat.” Why painter? The word may derive from Middle French pendeur meaning “a kind of rope that hangs,” literally...
Shipping characters in fiction in ways the original author didn’t intend — picturing them in new non-canon relationships — goes back at least as far as so-called slash fiction or slashfic, a type of fan fiction involving same-sex romantic or sexual...