weatherbittweatherbitn.
Nautical.
An extra turn of the cable about the bitts in bad weather.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > anchoring equipment > [noun] > anchor rope or cable > turn of about the bitts
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bitting1769
weatherbitt1769
1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine Weather-bit, a turn of the cable of a ship about the end of the windlass, without the knight-heads. It is used to check the cable, in order to slacken it gradually out of the ship, in tempestuous weather, or when the ship rides in a strong current.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Weather-bitt, is that which holds the weather-cable when the ship is moored.
Derivatives
weatherbitt v. (transitive) to give this extra turn to (the cable).
ΚΠ
1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast xxiv. 252 Weather-bit your chain and loose the top-sails!
1883 Man. Seamanship for Boys' Training Ships Royal Navy 191 To weather bitt a cable is to take another turn round the bitt end.
1900 Cent. Mag. Feb. 600/2 I now moor ship, weather~bitt cables, and leave the sloop Spray..safe in port.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1926; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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n.1769