knight-headn.2
/ˈnʌɪtˌhɛd/, U.S. /ˈnaɪtˌ(h)ɛd/ Nautical.
(a) One of two large timbers in a vessel that rise obliquely from the keel behind the stem, one on each side, and support the bowsprit, which is fixed between them; called also bollard timbers. †(b) A windlass-bitt. Obsolete. †(c) = knight n. 8. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > masts, rigging, or sails > spar > [noun] > spar projecting over bows > supports for
pillow1626
knight-head1711
bollard-timber1844
bedc1860
1711 W. Sutherland Ship-builders Assistant 115 They are reev'd through Knight-heads, and so hal'd home.
1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine Knight-Heads, two strong pieces of timber, fixed on the opposite sides of the main-deck... They are sometimes called the bits, and in this sense their upper parts only are denominated knight-heads,..being formerly embellished with a figure designed to resemble a human head... Knight-heads, was also a name formerly given to the lower jear-blocks, which were then no other than bits.
1883 Cent. Mag. Oct. 946/2 Her..bows would be buried in a smother of foam clear to the knight-heads.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1901; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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