forecastlen.
/ˈfəʊksl/, U.S. /ˈfoʊks(ə)l/, /ˈfɔrˌkæs(ə)l/ 1. Nautical. A short raised deck at the fore end of a vessel. In early use raised like a castle to command the enemy's decks. Obsolete exc. archaic or Historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > part of vessel above water > [noun] > deck > foredeck > raised
fore-stage?1345
forecastlec1515
c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) xxiii. 440 The fore castell of whyght crystal.
c1540 (?a1400) Destr. Troy 5657 The forcastels full of fuerse men of armys.
1624 J. Smith Gen. Hist. Virginia iii. vi. 62 Targets..about the forepart of our Boat like a fore~castle.
1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson i. iii. 29 The forecastle was manned with its customary watch.
1805 in Ld. Nelson Dispatches & Lett. (1846) VII. 203 (note) Her people still firing from her tops, forecastle and lower-deck.
1863 H. W. Longfellow Musician's Tale xix. vi, in Tales Wayside Inn 154 On the forecastle Ulf the Red Watched the lashing of the ships.
2. The fore part of a ship (see quots. 1704, 1867). to ride forecastle in, i.e. with bows under.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > body of vessel > fore part of vessel > [noun]
foreshipc1000
stam1336
bilynge?a1400
forestam?a1400
boat-head1485
head1485
prore1489
forecastle1490
steven1512
forepart1526
nose1538
prow1555
stem1555
forebow1569
beak-head1579
galion1604
bow1626
fore-beaka1656
forebudding1811
prora1847
snout1853
forward1892
sharp end1948
society > travel > travel by water > action or motion of vessel > [verb (intransitive)] > make progress > into heavy sea
to ride forecastle in1719
bury1841
pile-drive1898
1490 W. Caxton tr. Eneydos xxxi. 116 Theyr chyeff maryner..was halfe a slepe vpon the forcastell.
a1529 J. Skelton Colyn Cloute (?1545) sig. D.vi The fore castell of my shyp Shall glyde and smothely slyp Out of the wawes wod Of the stormy flod.
a1661 B. Holyday tr. Juvenal Satyres (1673) 232 Sometimes the one end, as the fore-castle, sometimes the other, as the sterne.
1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I Fore-castle of a Ship is that part where the Fore-Mast stands, and 'tis divided from the rest of the Floor by a Bulk-head; that part of the Fore-castle which is aloft, and not in the Hold, is called the Prow.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 10 Our Ship rid Forecastle in.
1794 Ld. Nelson 26 Oct. in Dispatches & Lett. (1845) I. 499 We are riding forecastle in.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Forecastle..is now applied in men-of-war to that part of the upper deck forward of the after-shroud.
3. In merchant vessels, the forward part of the vessel, under the deck, where the sailors live.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > room, locker, or quarters > [noun] > part of vessel where sailors live > in merchant vessel
forecastle1840
1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast ix. 19 No man can..know what sailors are, unless he has lived in the forecastle with them.
1888 W. C. Russell Death Ship I. xviii. 251 A ship of which there were a thousand stories afloat in every forecastle throughout the world.
Compounds
C1. General attributive. Chiefly attributive (of or pertaining to the forecastle).
forecastle conversation n.
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1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World vii. 221 The fore-castle conversation.
forecastle-deck n.
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1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick i. 5 The..pure air of the forecastle deck.
forecastle-hatch n.
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1869 C. Gibbon Robin Gray vi He laid down near the forecastle hatch.
forecastle-joke n.
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1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Forecastle-jokes, practical tricks played upon greenhorns.
forecastle-netting n.
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1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Forecastle-nettings.
forecastle-rail n.
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1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Forecastle-rail, the rail extended on stanchions across the after-part of the forecastle-deck in some ships.
forecastle-song n.
ΚΠ
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. II. xxiv. 243 Their old forecastle songs.
forecastle-yarn n.
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1873 T. E. Brown (title) Betsy Lee: a fo'c's'le yarn.
C2.
forecastle-man n. a sailor stationed on the forecastle.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > one who travels by water or sea > sailor > sailors involved in specific duties or activities > [noun] > sailors with duties in other specific areas
lady1711
topman1748
bowsman1776
forecastle-man1804
waister1815
foretopman1816
larboarder1846
bosman1876
upper yardman1886
sternman1894
afterguard1912
1804 Naval Chron. 12 246 Except the Forecastlemen.
1823 J. F. Cooper Pioneers II. i. 8 He handles an axe, much the same as a forecastle-man does his marlin-spike.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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