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 wider point closer to the waterline. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In a nautical context, the word heave refers to the action of a ship rising or lifting with the waves. The past tense is hove, and if a boat hove into view, it slowly came into sight, as if gradually appearing on the horizon. This is part of a...
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...