Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of various types of small cranes that project over the side of a ship and are used to hoist boats, anchors, and cargo.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Nautical, one of a pair of projecting pieces of wood or iron on the side or stern of a vessel, used for suspending or lowering and hoisting a boat, by means of sheaves and pulleys. They are set so as to admit of being shipped and unshipped at pleasure, and commonly turn on their axes, so that the boat can be swung in on deck, or vice versa.
Wiktionary
- n. nautical A spar formerly used on board of ships, as a crane to hoist the flukes of the anchor to the top of the bow, without injuring the sides of the ship.
- n. nautical, construction a crane, often working in pairs and usually made of steel, used to lower things over an edge of a long drop off, such as lowering a maintenance trapeze down a building or launching a lifeboat over the side of a ship.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A spar formerly used on board of ships, as a crane to hoist the flukes of the anchor to the top of the bow, without injuring the sides of the ship; -- called also the
fish davit . - n. Curved arms of timber or iron, projecting over a ship's side of stern, having tackle to raise or lower a boat, swing it in on deck, rig it out for lowering, etc.; -- called also
boat davits .
WordNet 3.0
- n. a crane-like device (usually one of a pair) for suspending or lowering equipment (as a lifeboat)
Etymologies
- Middle English daviot, from Norman French daviot, diminutive of Davi, David. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“How appalling to think that with a few more boats -- and the ship was provided with that particular kind of davit that would launch more boats -- there would have been no decision of that kind to make!”
“The davit-tackle carried away, and they are rigging the falls," he explained a minute or so later, and then went under to head off another attack.”
“And what a shame it is being unleashed on one of the greatest presidents in our history. davit”
“Listening to Cheney is like listening to Osama Bin Laden, they both have the same extremist view points and both should be in jail. davit”
“The davit tackle carried away, and they are rigging the falls," he explained, a minute or so later, and then went under to head off another attack.”
“This is just the Good Ole Boys of RNC wanting to get rid of an outsider that doesnt bow to them. davit”
“Her level of ignorance and stupidity is the stuff of legends. davit”
Palin warns of 'Second Holocaust' if Iran gains nuclear weapons
“An announcement over the loudspeaker moments earlier had warned sailors to stand clear of the twenty-six-foot motor whaleboat suspended on a davit about ten feet above the starboard deck.”
“Hey, I suffered credit card fraud about a month ago and had to do the affa davit cancel/replace card thing...”
“The stern davit cable snaps, the inboard/outboard motor sinks to the bottom, and the front davit holds up the bow, making the boat look like a breaching whale.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘davit’.
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phrontistery - d
from phrontistery.info
dacnomania, dacoitage, dacryops, dactylioglyph, dactyliology, dactyliomancy, dactylogram, dactylography, dactyloid, dactylology, dactylomancy, dactylomegaly and 624 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Wordsthatcouldbeusedinmyth
bicephalous, invertebrate, amaranthine, befuddle, browbeat, expurgation, bigoted, groan, telic, untoward, mummer, formalist and 17 more...
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Hey! L...
for the same
ichthyarchy, thalassic, nip-cheese, cerement, manavalins, rockweed, polder, semipalmate, blue peter, curragh, crowfoot, cat and 158 more...
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kringlan's Words
fecund, riposte, nebbish, nonpareil, deign, eschew, imbroglio, spelunking, fop, foofaraw, tundra, talon and 128 more...
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Sean Croft's Nautical
Nautical Words
bilge, jamb, davit, transom, amidships, sextant, hawser, outrigger, keelhaul, gunwale
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#termsfromtoday
I'm always entertained by the terms @immerito tweets using the hashtag #termsfromtoday. As best I can tell, the tag emerged in mid 2011 after a brief flirtation with an alternate hashtag form. You'...
vortex ring state, gamine, airshed, drayage, judging rubric, shoulder graphic, diableries, exaptation, aggravant, anecdata, monégasques, vorticity and 304 more...
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azd's Words
adamantine, abatial, ablate, ablative, abrogate, accretive, acromegaly, acrostic, actinism, actinic, acuity, adduce and 968 more...
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Airborn
Words and phrases from Kenneth Oppel's book, Airborn.
running lights, starboard, bow, gondola, bullhorn, rudder man, gas cell, keel, catwalk, stern, cargo bay, machinist and 152 more...
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Whaleworthy & Piratical Words
A list of favorite nautical words to be sprinkled liberally throughout speech for piratical or Melvillian effect.
batten down, back and fill, beamy, baulking, beckets, bilge, bold shore, boomjumper, breaker, larboard, abaft, ash breeze and 156 more...
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words
diplopic, dolorous, farrago, surety, scuttlebutt, Arabesque, infarct, neurasthenia, lambent, expurge, univocal, simper and 395 more...
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learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1381 more...
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Wordie/Wordnik Curio Cabinet
Oddments culled from my "main" lists that belong in a display cabinet of their own, plus sundry other curiosities. :-)
zeugma, ziggurat, xiphoid, xeric, whizgigging, whangdoodle, viviparous, vivific, vinolent, verjuice, vellicate, velleity and 1193 more...
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looked up
Words I've come across while reading and looked up in the dictionary.
deesis, pendentive, revetment, aedicule, stemma, patera, ephod, entrepot, corbel, exedra, volute, archivolt and 1406 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...
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puzzlers
words learned from crossword puzzles
ott, ogee, ulee, aida, cleek, stlo, yser, eero, sniggle, nostrum, oxlip, agist and 32 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for davit.

knitandpurl "He peered into the mirror, improving himself, unaware of me as he worked in the half-shadow of the lifeboat which hung from the davit."
"The Cat's Table" by Michael Ondaatje, in the May 16, 2011 issue of The New Yorker, p 111 May 23, 2011
trivet (a) A spar formerly used on board of ships, as a crane to hoist the flukes of the anchor to the top of the bow, without injuring the sides of the ship; -- called also the fish davit.
(b) pl. Curved arms of timber or iron, projecting over a ship's side of stern, having tackle to raise or lower a boat, swing it in on deck, rig it out for lowering, etc.; -- called also boat davits.
(Cf. F. davier forceps, cooper's instrument, G. david davit; all probably from the proper name David.)
- Webster 1913 Jul 9, 2007