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...
bolter v.— «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...
duty watch bar n.— «For members of the British Royal Navy on the two warships at the pier, it became something more than just a bar last week. “It’s the ’duty watch bar,’ ” Mark Smith, 41, a petty officer sitting in...