Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

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

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun 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 GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Naut.) A rope to steady the peak of a gaff.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To take; undertake for.
  • verb dialectal To undertake for at the Font; be godfather or godmother to.
  • noun 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.
  • noun nautical A line extended down from the end of a yard or a gaff, used to regulate its position

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Dutch, a catch, from vangen, to catch; see pag- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English vangen, southern variant of fangen ("to seize, catch"), from Old English fōn ("to take, grasp, seize, catch, capture, make prisoner, receive, accept, assume, undertake, meet with, encounter"), and Old Norse fanga ("to fetch, capture"), both from Proto-Germanic *fanhanan, *fangōnan (“to catch, capture”), from Proto-Indo-European *paḱ- (“to fasten, place”). Cognate with West Frisian fange ("to catch"), Dutch vangen ("to catch"), German fangen ("to catch"), Danish fange ("to catch"). More at fang.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Dutch vangen ("to catch").

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Examples

  • And all we knowed to arnser was the one word "vang";

    Rhymes of a Red Cross Man 1916

  • This is Kamara's variation of what the Vietnamese refer to as hu tieu nam vang.

    Breakfast Noodles in Chinatown, Los Angeles - A Tasting of Chiu Chow Soup Noodles e d b m 2009

  • If you've eaten hu tieu nam vang, then you've eaten a Vietnamese variation of a Chiu Chow noodle dish.

    Breakfast Noodles in Chinatown, Los Angeles - A Tasting of Chiu Chow Soup Noodles e d b m 2009

  • This is Kamara's variation of what the Vietnamese refer to as hu tieu nam vang.

    Archive 2009-03-01 e d b m 2009

  • If you've eaten hu tieu nam vang, then you've eaten a Vietnamese variation of a Chiu Chow noodle dish.

    Archive 2009-03-01 e d b m 2009

  • Pealkirjas mainitud Boone oli miski endine vang, kes nende majja sisse murdis, tüdruku maha tappis, miski muistse Egiptuse savitahvli röövis, sellesama savitahvli maja ees puruks pillas ning siis autoröövi käigus autoomaniku poolt maha lasti.

    The Dresden Files - 1x02 - The Boone Identity (2007) Ulmeguru 2008

  • Vì vậy, khi trẻ nói Hitler trước khi một đoàn nhỏ của Đức, nghe cảm hứng, vang vọng những nỗi thất vọng của họ, cho họ là kẻ thù, và mục đích, chúng tôi hiểu được những khán giả đã được giải quyết Riefenstahl với bộ phim của cô.

    ideonexus.com »2004» tháng 2004

  • Cuộc biểu tình của những người bạn không thích, hô vang những điều bạn không thích, trông giống như Nuremberg với bạn vì cô ấy đã là điểm tham chiếu, hình ảnh không thể xóa nhòa, rất lạ mắt quyến rũ, và quái dị vì những gì họ đến để đại diện.

    ideonexus.com »2004» tháng 2004

  • Khi các tay sai bắt đầu cuộc biểu tình hô vang khẳng định trên của nhà lãnh đạo của họ, Edward Norton sử dụng ví dụ này để minh họa cho thông điệp bộ phim chống phát xít ", những kẻ trong áo sơ mi màu đen và khởi động chạy xung quanh làm những việc ngu ngốc là morons như vậy" Norton.

    ideonexus.com »2004» tháng 2004

  • "Dat ons as een groot nasie in die gramadoelas met elke stukkie sinkplaat en met elke wiel, en wit en bruin en swart foelie agter skoon glas ewig u sonlig vang en mekaar toe spieel."

    REPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA ON THE QUESTION OF THE AFRIKANERS 1999

Comments

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  • "...the mizen-mast was sprung, in consequence of the vangs of the gaff giving way."

    —P. O'Brian, The Yellow Admiral, 164

    March 19, 2008

  • I hate it when that happens.

    March 19, 2008

  • 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)

    March 20, 2008

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

    March 27, 2008

  • "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

    April 15, 2008

  • Wow. And Verlyn Klinkenborg sounds like a real name. *snorts*

    April 15, 2008

  • On the ving vang vong,

    where the cows go bong,

    and the monkeys all say "Boo!"...

    April 15, 2008

  • 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.

    April 16, 2008

  • "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

    October 12, 2008

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

    February 16, 2011

  • Boom-vang!

    boom-vang!

    February 17, 2011

  • "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?

    January 14, 2013

  • yarb put him there.

    January 15, 2013

  • “_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

    January 15, 2013

  • Vang you, Bilby.

    January 15, 2013

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

    January 15, 2013