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hawse
4 dictionary results for: Hawse
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
hawse       [hawz, haws] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, hawsed, haws·ing. Nautical
–noun
1.the part of a bow where the hawseholes are located.
2.a hawsehole or hawsepipe.
3.the distance or space between the bow of an anchored vessel and the point on the surface of the water above the anchor.
4.the relative position or arrangement of the port and starboard anchor cables when both are used to moor a vessel.
–verb (used without object)
5.(of a vessel) to pitch heavily at anchor.
—Idiom
6.to hawse, with both bow anchors out: a ship riding to hawse.
[Origin: bef. 1000; ME hals, OE heals bow of a ship, lit., neck; c. ON hals in same senses, OFris, OS, OHG hals neck, throat, L collus (< *kolsos)]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
hawse       (hôz)  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
  1. The part of a ship where the hawseholes are located.
  2. A hawsehole.
  3. The space between the bows and anchors of an anchored ship.
  4. The arrangement of a ship's anchor cables when both starboard and port anchors are secured.


[Middle English hals, forward curve of a strake, probably from Old Norse hāls, neck, ship's bow; see kwel-1 in Indo-European roots.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
hawse

noun
the hole that an anchor rope passes through 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Hawse

Hawse\ (h[add]z or h[add]s; 277), n. [Orig. a hawse hole, or hole in the ship; cf. Icel. hals, h[=a]ls, neck, part of the bows of a ship, AS. heals neck. See Collar, and cf. Halse to embrace.]

1. A hawse hole. --Harris.

2. (Naut.) (a) The situation of the cables when a vessel is moored with two anchors, one on the starboard, the other on the port bow. (b) The distance ahead to which the cables usually extend; as, the ship has a clear or open hawse, or a foul hawse; to anchor in our hawse, or athwart hawse. (c) That part of a vessel's bow in which are the hawse holes for the cables.

Athwart hawse. See under Athwart.

Foul hawse, a hawse in which the cables cross each other, or are twisted together.

Hawse block, a block used to stop up a hawse hole at sea; -- called also hawse plug.

Hawse hole, a hole in the bow of a ship, through which a cable passes.

Hawse piece, one of the foremost timbers of a ship, through which the hawse hole is cut.

Hawse plug. Same as Hawse block (above).

To come in at the hawse holes, to enter the naval service at the lowest grade. [Cant]

To freshen the hawse, to veer out a little more cable and bring the chafe and strain on another part.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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