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  1. vang love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Nautical A rope running from the peak of a gaff to a ship's rail or mast, used to steady the gaff.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A guy extending from the end of a gaff to the ship's rail on each side, and serving to steady the gaff.

Wiktionary

  1. v. To take; undertake for.
  2. v. dialectal To undertake for at the Font; be godfather or godmother to.
  3. n. nautical A boom vang, a strap or line which exerts downward pressure on the boom near where it joins the mast of a fore-and-aft rigged sailboat.
  4. n. nautical A line extended down from the end of a yard or a gaff, used to regulate its position

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Naut.) A rope to steady the peak of a gaff.

Etymologies

  1. From Dutch vangen ("to catch"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Dutch, a catch, from vangen, to catch; see pag- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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synonyms (1)

Words with the same meaning

  1. kicking strap

rhymes (41)

Words with the same terminal sound

  1. Chang
  2. Fang
  3. Hang
  4. Kuomintang
  5. Lang
  6. Lange
  7. Liang
  8. Nanchang
  1. Pyongyang
  2. Shenyang
  3. Tang
  4. Wang
  5. Xinjiang
  6. bang
  7. chang
  8. clang
  1. dang
  2. fang
  3. gang
  4. hang
  5. harangue
  6. hwang
  7. kang
  8. klang
  1. lang
  2. mang
  3. nang
  4. pang
  5. rang
  6. sang
  7. slang
  8. spang
  1. sprang
  2. stang
  3. strang
  4. tang
  5. thang
  6. wang
  7. whang
  8. yang
  1. ylang-ylang

tags (2)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. nautical
  1. maritime

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Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘vang’.

Comments

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  • ruzuzu Yarb! Could you please put some brackets around "Vang you, Bilby"? (I know just where to put it.) Jan 15, 2013

  • yarb Vang you, Bilby. Jan 15, 2013

  • bilby “_Rot-gut_, my Lord," ejaculated Tom, with emphasis; "and if, my Lord, a man wants to get the jandiss, I recommends vang ordonnor_y_;" and down went Tom's fist, with a loud report, into the palm of his left hand.”
    - A Yacht Voyage to Norway, Denmark, and Sweden 2nd edition Jan 14, 2013

  • bilby yarb put him there. Jan 14, 2013

  • hernesheir "A guy extending from the end of a gaff to the ship's rail on each side, and serving to steady the gaff." --from the definitions. How'd the poor guy get to the end of the gaff in the first place? Jan 14, 2013

  • yarb Boom-vang!

    boom-vang! Feb 17, 2011

  • glenhaven This is still commonly used in yachting, principally in the form "boom-vang". Feb 16, 2011

  • chained_bear "Vangs, a sort of braces to support and keep steady the mizen-gaff: they are fixed on the outer-end or peak, and reach downwards to the aftmost part of a ship's quarters, where they are hooked and drawn tight, so as to be slackened when the wind is fair; and drawn in to windward when it becomes unfavourable to the ship's course."
    —Falconer's New Universal Dictionary of the Marine (1816), 588 Oct 12, 2008

  • reesetee I'm thinking Verlyn Klinkenborg was so entranced with the word "vang" that he/she changed his/her name to complement it.

    Or maybe not. Parents have done worse things to children. Apr 15, 2008

  • yarb On the ving vang vong,
    where the cows go bong,
    and the monkeys all say "Boo!"... Apr 15, 2008

  • chained_bear Wow. And Verlyn Klinkenborg sounds like a real name. *snorts* Apr 15, 2008

  • reesetee "Part of the trouble is that I have never seen a vang. But it’s also that 'vang' doesn’t sound like a noun to me. It sounds like the past tense of 'ving,' which sounds like something you might do to a 'vong.' And those are words with no meaning--nautical or otherwise." -- Verlyn Klinkenborg, "Ving, Vang, Vong. Or, the Pleasures of a New Vocabulary." NYT Online, 4/9/08 Apr 15, 2008

  • urfy I think this only applies to old time cargo carrying gaff-rigged sailing barges, but I suppose it could apply to yachts as well. Mar 27, 2008

  • chained_bear Yeah, and A Sea of Words isn't much clearer: "Guys leading from the peak of a gaff, securing it to the rail and keeping it amidships when the sail was not set." (p. 457) Mar 20, 2008

  • reesetee I hate it when that happens. Mar 19, 2008

  • chained_bear "...the mizen-mast was sprung, in consequence of the vangs of the gaff giving way."
    —P. O'Brian, The Yellow Admiral, 164 Mar 19, 2008

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‘vang’ has been looked up 3472 times, added to 14 lists, commented on 16 times, and has a Scrabble score of 8.