Word Meanings - PORTOISE - Book Publishers vocabulary database

The gunwale of a ship. To lower the yards a-portoise, to lower them to the gunwale. -- To ride a portoise, to ride an anchor with the lower yards and topmasts struck or lowered, as in a gale of wind.

Related words: (words related to PORTOISE)

• ANCHORET; ANCHORITE
  One who renounces the world and secludes himself, usually for Our Savior himself . . . did not choose an anchorite's or a monastic life, but a social and affable way of conversing with mortals. Boyle.
• LOWERMOST
  Lowest.
• LOWERY
  Cloudy; gloomy; lowering; as, a lowery sky; lowery weather.
• ANCHOR LIGHT
  The lantern shown at night by a vessel at anchor. International rules of the road require vessels at anchor to carry from sunset to sunrise a single white light forward if under 150 feet in length, and if longer, two such lights, one near the stern
• ANCHORAGE
  1. The act of anchoring, or the condition of lying at anchor. 2. A place suitable for anchoring or where ships anchor; a hold for an anchor. 3. The set of anchors belonging to a ship. 4. Something which holds like an anchor; a hold; as,
• ANCHORESS
  A female anchoret. And there, a saintly anchoress, she dwelt. Wordsworth.
• LOWER
  Compar. of Low, a.
• ANCHORLESS
  Without an anchor or stay. Hence: Drifting; unsettled.
• ANCHOR-HOLD
  1. The hold or grip of an anchor, or that to which it holds. 2. Hence: Firm hold: security.
• ANCHORETISM
  The practice or mode of life of an anchoret.
• YARDSTICK
  A stick three feet, or a yard, in length, used as a measure of cloth, etc.
• ANCHOR WATCH
  A detail of one or more men who keep watch on deck at night when a vessel is at anchor.
• STRUCKEN
  p. p. of Strike. Shak.
• LOWER-CASE
  Pertaining to, or kept in, the lower case; -- used to denote the small letters, in distinction from capitals and small capitals. See the Note under 1st Case, n., 3.
• GUNWALE
  The upper edge of a vessel's or boat's side; the uppermost wale of a ship ; or that piece of timber which reaches on either side from the quarter-deck to the forecastle, being the uppermost bend, which finishes the upper works of the hull.
• ANCHOR SHOT
  A shot made with the object balls in an anchor space.
• STRUCK
  imp. & p. p. of Strike. Struck jury , a special jury, composed of persons having special knowledge or qualifications, selected by striking from the panel of jurors a certain number for each party, leaving the number required by law to
• ANCHORED
  Having the extremities turned back, like the flukes of an anchor; as, an anchored cross. (more info) 1. Held by an anchor; at anchor; held safely; as, an anchored bark; also, shaped like an anchor; forked; as, an anchored tongue.
• ANCHOR
  An emblem of hope. A metal tie holding adjoining parts of a building together. Carved work, somewhat resembling an anchor or arrowhead; -- a part of the ornaments of certain moldings. It is seen in the echinus, or egg-and-anchor ornament. (more
• LOWERING
  Dark and threatening; gloomy; sullen; as, lowering clouds or sky.
• WILLOWER
  A willow. See Willow, n., 2.
• WINDFLOWER
  The anemone; -- so called because formerly supposed to open only when the wind was blowing. See Anemone.
• FLOWERY-KIRTLED
  Dressed with garlands of flowers. Milton.
• CAULIFLOWER
  An annual variety of Brassica oleracea, or cabbage of which the cluster of young flower stalks and buds is eaten as a vegetable. 2. The edible head or "curd" of a caulifower plant. (more info) caulis, and by E. flower; F. chou cabbage is fr. L.
• FLOWER-DE-LUCE
  A genus of perennial herbs with swordlike leaves and large three-petaled flowers often of very gay colors, but probably white in the plant first chosen for the royal French emblem. Note: There are nearly one hundred species, natives of the north
• WALLOWER
  A lantern wheel; a trundle. (more info) 1. One who, or that which, wallows.
• FLOWERY
  1. Full of flowers; abounding with blossoms. 2. Highly embellished with figurative language; florid; as, a flowery style. Milton. The flowery kingdom, China.
• WONDERSTRUCK
  Struck with wonder, admiration, or surprise. Dryden.
• FLOWERLESSNESS
  State of being without flowers.
• MAYFLOWER
  In England, the hawthorn; in New England, the trailing arbutus ; also, the blossom of these plants.
• UNFLOWER
  To strip of flowers. G. Fletcher.
• FLOWERLESS
  Having no flowers. Flowerless plants, plants which have no true flowers, and produce no seeds; cryptigamous plants.
• ALLOWER
  1. An approver or abettor. 2. One who allows or permits.
• GLOBEFLOWER
  A plant of the genus Trollius , found in the mountainous parts of Europe, and producing handsome globe-shaped flowers. The American plant Trollius laxus. Japan globeflower. See Corchorus.
• BALL-FLOWER
  An ornament resembling a ball placed in a circular flower, the petals of which form a cup round it, -- usually inserted in a hollow molding.
• THREE-FLOWERED
  Bearing three flowers together, or only three flowers.