Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. Variant of bouse.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
Wiktionary
- v. archaic To drink excessively and socially.
- n. A carouse; a drinking bout; a booze.
- v. nautical To haul or hoist (something) with a tackle.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To carouse; to bouse; to booze.
- v. (Naut.) To pull or haul.
- n. A carouse; a drinking bout; a booze.
WordNet 3.0
- v. haul with a tackle
Etymologies
- Origin unknown. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The Loader and Sponger pass the frapping lashing round both parts of the breeching, in front of the brackets, and with the assistance of the men nearest them bowse it well taut; and secure the muzzle by placing the grommet over it and the housing hook-bolt, and by frapping the two parts together with the lashing.”
Ordnance Instructions for the United States Navy. 1866. Fourth edition.
“Hook a rolling-tackle on the opposite side of the yard, bowse it well taut, and the trusses also, if they be of rope.”
Ordnance Instructions for the United States Navy. 1866. Fourth edition.
“When the slings bear hard on the upper port-sill, lower the gun-purchase, and bowse on the garnet until the breech is high enough for the trunnions to clear the cap-square bolts in the carriage; then bowse on the thwart-ship-tackle until the trunnions are over the trunnion-holes, lowering the purchase as required to bring the gun into its place.”
Ordnance Instructions for the United States Navy. 1866. Fourth edition.
“These preparations made, all the numbers man the breech-tackle fall, or divide themselves to bowse upon both falls together, as the position of the gun in the battery may render either mode most convenient.”
Ordnance Instructions for the United States Navy. 1866. Fourth edition.
“When the breech of the gun is above the port-sill, hook the garnet and the thwart-ship-tackle to the cascabel, and bowse on both.”
Ordnance Instructions for the United States Navy. 1866. Fourth edition.
“All the crew, except Nos. 1 and 2, will bowse on train-tackles, until the mortar is in the desired direction, when the order "Well!" will be given by No. 2, who attends spirit-level and trunnion-sight.”
Ordnance Instructions for the United States Navy. 1866. Fourth edition.
“I'se spec 'you'll help, Massa Bosun," hinted the darky cook in an obsequious way; "you clebber man, Massa Moggridge, an 'knows how to bowse tings up.”
“The line, one end of which was fastened to the harpoon, was rove through a block attached to the main-topmast stay; and the cook, one of the sailors, and myself firmly grasped the rope, and stood ready, whenever the word might be given, to bowse the unsuspecting and deluded victim out of his native element and introduce him to the ship's company.”
Jack in the Forecastle or, Incidents in the Early Life of Hawser Martingale
“He got up on the front efter a while, an 'ga'e the reinds a tit, an' Princie began to do a bit jeeg, garrin 'Sandy bowse aboot on the front o' the cairt like's he was foo.”
“Now bowse a round health to the Go-well and Corn-well [13]”
Musa Pedestris - Three Centuries of Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes [1536 - 1896]
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘bowse’.
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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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...a list from a notebook...
I found several pages of words in an old notebook. By the looks of it, they were words I learnt some time ago (and subsequently wrote down) from books by Patrick O'Brian and China Mieville, two aut...
trabacaloes, jocosity, ordnance, transom, douceur, purser, nostrum, gaby, sea-lawyer, bowsprit, officious, hobnailed and 124 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for bowse.
chained_bear "Bowse, is chiefly used by the gunners when they haul upon their tackles to thrust a piece gun out of port gun-port, in which case they cry 'Bowse hoa!' i.e. pull more upon the tackle; also when there is occasion to pull more on the tackle than otherwise, they say, 'Bowse upon the tackle!'
"To Bowse, to pull upon any body with a tackle, or a complication of pullies, in order to remove it, or otherwise alter its state or situtation: this is chiefly practised, when such alteration or removal cannot be conveniently effected without the application of mechanical powers. This term is pronounced bowse, as when they would have the men pull altogether (sic), they cry, 'Bowse away!'"
—Falconer's New Universal Dictionary of the Marine (1816), 54 Oct 14, 2008
yarb Double gaskets were passed round the yards, rolling tackles and other gear bowsed taut, and everything made as secure as it could be.
- Richard Henry Dana Jr., Two Years Before the Mast, ch. 25 Sep 9, 2008
chained_bear "...his business was with the ship's main armament, the two tiers of massive guns, thirty-two pounders, stretching fore and aft in the gloom, bowsed tight up against the side, uttering squeaks and groans as the roll shifted their concentrated three tons an inch or so in spite of the well-heaved frapping."
--Patrick O'Brian, The Ionian Mission, 56 Feb 10, 2008