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...
Panamax n.—Gloss: a cargo ship built to be small enough to go through the Panama Canal. «The Panama Canal is so important to world shipping that the trade has invented a word to describe ships that will fit through it. A...
tumblehome n. the slope at which an automobile’s sides or windows angle to meets its roof. Etymological Note: Originally applied to the design of seacraft, in which the upper part of the sides of a boat or ship—the topsides—angles upwards from a...
postman’s holiday n.— «He is still busy with his life work, which is the promotion of American shipping. He does take a vacation now and then, but it is like the postman’s holiday. He takes it on a ship.» —“Dean of...
nugget n.— «The Greyhound, which looks as if it sprang from the womb of Howard Hughes’s Spruce Goose, is 50,000 pounds of flying metal that must set itself down on the pitching deck of a ship at 120 knots and come to a complete stop in...
trap n.— «The Greyhound, which looks as if it sprang from the womb of Howard Hughes’s Spruce Goose, is 50,000 pounds of flying metal that must set itself down on the pitching deck of a ship at 120 knots and come to a complete stop in two...