crimpage

Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

  • noun The act or practice of crimping, or entrapping soldiers or sailors into service.
  • noun Money paid to a crimp for shipping or enlisting men.

Examples

  • Men seduced by means of crimpage bounty were said to be "silver cooped," and the art of silver cooping was not only practised at home, it was world-wide.

    The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore

  • At Chatham, crimpage bounty varied from fifteen to twenty guineas per head; and at Cork, a favourite recruiting ground for both merchantmen and privateers, the same sum could be had any day, with high wages to boot.

    The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore

  • The argument that without this system of bondage and ` ` 'crimpage' it would be impossible to secure crews is fully answered by the experience of Great Britain since the passage of the Plimsoll Acts and in the United States since the recent acts of Congress.

    Two Years Before the Mast

Note

The origin of the word 'crimpage' is uncertain.