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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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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.