davit

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (1)  · 
“
I had a line fast to a stern-davit, and placing myself with my feet braced against the chest, I soon overcame the vis inertia of the spars, and, exerting all my force, when it was once in motion, I succeeded in giving the raft an impetus that carried it completely past the ship.

View all »
Definitions (4)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun Any of various types of small cranes that project over the side of a ship and are used to hoist boats, anchors, and cargo.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples

  • From the rendezvous point by the starboard davit, Emien studied the view with a fisherman's eye for weather, more irritated than pleased by the change. —  Stormwarden
  • I had a line fast to a stern-davit, and placing myself with my feet braced against the chest, I soon overcame the vis inertia of the spars, and, exerting all my force, when it was once in motion, I succeeded in giving the raft an impetus that carried it completely past the ship. —  Miles Wallingford Sequel to "Afloat and Ashore"
  • I knew by the sound that they had placed it near the davit, and almost exactly under my head. —  The Captain of the Polestar
  • Meet me by the starboard davit at nightfall. —  Stormwarden
  • a line fast to a stern-davit, and placing myself with my feet braced against the chest, I soon overcame the _vis inertia_ of the spars, and, exerting all my force, when it was once in motion, I succeeded in giving the raft an impetus that carried it completely past the ship. —  Miles Wallingford Sequel to "Afloat and Ashore"
 

Tags

davit hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

Davit has been looked up 185 times, favorited 0 times, listed 8 times, and commented on once.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English daviot, from Norman French daviot, diminutive of Davi, David.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Also davitt, and formerly david (“the Davids ende,” Capt. John Smith, Treat. on English Sea Terms, 1626). Cf. French davier, forceps, a cramp-iron, davit; supposed by Littré to stand for *daviet, a diminutive of David, it being customary to give proper names to implements (e. g., English betty, billy, jack, etc.).
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈdævɪt/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a year.

Recent Lookups

disprove · mj · cloudburst · many-colored · wayworn

Recent Favorites

TelePalmter · Espoo · stick-to-it-iveness · supine · doxastic

Recent Pronunciations

milosrdenstvi · lichen-covered · futon · sagacity · monoragngocious