Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An ornament resembling the head and beak of a bird, or, often, a grotesque human head terminating in a beak, used as an enrichment of moldings in Romanesque architecture.
- n. That part of a ship before the forecastle which is fastened to the stem and supported by the main knee.
Wiktionary
- n. nautical A protruding part of the foremost section of a sailing ship.
- n. archaeology An ornament used in rich Norman doorways, resembling a head with a beak.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Arch.) An ornament used in rich Norman doorways, resembling a head with a beak.
- n. A small platform at the fore part of the upper deck of a vessel, which contains the water closets of the crew.
- n. (Antiq.) Same as Beak, 3.
Examples
“Her beakhead was a riot of gilded wood supporting a figurehead that showed an ecstatic-faced lady graced with a halo, carrying a sword and dressed in silver-painted armor, though her breastplate was curiously truncated to reveal a pinkly naked bosom.”
“So, I'm sure everyone's dying to know the result of my challenge to define some nautical terms. beakhead colloquially known as "the heads".”
“Also, it is bleeding obvious that your mystery words are defined as follows: beakhead - a particulary nosy or overly inquisitive crew member.”
“This time next week, I will tell all of my faithful readers what the following are: beakhead knightheads scantlings (sounds like a nice title for a novel ...) tumblehome (so does that) bulwark”
“Chase gestured at the very first ship and his men, with a practiced ease, scrambled into the netting rigged under the beakhead.”
“Another struck the ship's beakhead, whistling a shred of wood high into the air, then a tearing, ripping, rustling sound made Sharpe look up to see that the Pucelle's main topgallant mast, the slenderest and highest portion of the mainmast, was falling to bring down a tangle of rigging and the main topgallant sail with it.”
“Ophelia, like many figureheads of her day, had been arrayed upon the beakhead of the ship, rather than positioned below the bowsprit.”
“In any case, Lucy's claims that she'd escaped detection for three years in cramped quarters occupied by 450 men, where the toilets were a couple of open-air perches at the ship's beakhead, and where the regulations of the day required all Marines to strip, bathe, and dress in the presence of a commanding officer responsible for checking frequently on their physical condition, were patently ridiculous.”
“Sharpe and Harper went to the beakhead where, concealed by the forecastle, they could hide from authority and thus stretch their temporary unemployment.”
“The man on the frigate's beakhead was calling more news ashore.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘beakhead’.
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The Aubrey/Maturin List I'm Gonna Mak...
I'm wading through Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels one by one, and someday, I'll wade through them again and list all the words I learned while reading them.
Edit: I started ma...studdingsail, carronade, mumchance, grumlin-futtocks, crosscat-harpings, holystone, sennit, orlop, orchitis, negus, kevel, altumal and 1112 more...
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What Keeps Your Ears Apart?
A sort of stuffie of words/phrases that include "head"
head of cattle, out of one's head, head of the stairs, come to a head, head of steam, head of the page, win by a head, head taller, headway, fountainhead, heads or tails, hit the nail on t... and 143 more...
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Double diphthongs, etc.
Words with repeated diphthongs or other pairs of vowels, with no other vowels.
aeae, aiai, aoao, auau, ayay, eaea, eiei, eoeo, eueu, eyey, iaia, ieie, ioio, iuiu, oaoa, oeoe, oioi, ouo...chaetae, airmail, gainsaid, hairbrain, hairtail, jailbait, maimai, mainsail, maintain, zaikai, chainmail, braindrain and 201 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for beakhead.
chained_bear "... standing in the frigate's beakhead, a roughly triangular place in front of and below the forecastle..."
--O'Brian, The Wine-Dark Sea, 3
See also beak-head. Mar 11, 2008