The Sailor's Word-Book Part 168

MOULDING DIMENSION. In ship-building, implies the depth or thickness of any piece of timber.

MOULDING EDGE. That edge of a timber to which, in shaping it, the mould is applied.

MOULDINGS OF A GUN. The several rings and ornaments.

MOULD-LOFT. A long building, on the floor of which the intended vessel is laid off from the several draughts in full dimensions.

MOULDS. In naval architecture, are thin flexible pieces of board used on the mould-loft floors as patterns.

MOUNT, OR MOUNTAIN. An Anglo-Saxon term still in use, usually held to mean eminences above 1000 feet in height. In a fort it means the _cavalier_ (which see).

MOUNT, TO. When said of a ship-of-war, implies the number of guns she carries.--_To mount_, in a military sense, is also to furnish with horses.

MOUNT A GUN, TO. To place it on its carriage.

MOUNT AREEVO! [Sp. _montar arriba_]. Mount aloft; jump up quickly.

MOUNTEBANK. The _Gammarus arcticus_, or arctic shrimp.

MOURNING. A ship is in mourning with her, ensign and pennant half-mast, her yards topped awry, or apeek, or alternately topped an-end. If the sides are painted blue instead of white, it denotes deep mourning; this latter, however, is only done on the ship where the admiral or captain was borne, and in the case of merchant ships on the death of the owner.

MOUSE. A kind of ball or k.n.o.b, wrought on the collars of stays by means of spun-yarn, higher parcelling, &c. The mouse prevents the running eye from slipping. (_See_ PUDDENING.) Also, a match used in firing a mine.

Also, a mark made upon braces and other ropes, to show their squaring or tallying home.--_To mouse a hook_, to put a turn or two of rope-yarn round the point of a tackle-hook and its neck to prevent its unhooking.--_To raise a mouse_, to strike a blow which produces a lump.

MOUTH [the Anglo-Saxon _muda_]. The embouchure opening of a port or outlet of a river, as Yarmouth, Tynemouth, Exmouth, &c.

MOVE OFF, TO. To defile.

MOVER. Synonymous with _motor_.

MOVING SANDS. Synonymous with _quicksands_.

MOWELL. The old English name for _mullet_.

MOYAN. A species of early artillery.

MOYLE, TO. To defile; an old term.

MUCK. _See_ AMOK.

MUD-DRAGS. Implements and machines for clearing rivers and docks.

MUD OR BALLAST DREDGER. A vessel of 300 tons or more, fitted with steam-engine beams and metal buckets. By this powerful machine for cutting or sc.r.a.ping, loose gravel banks, &c., are removed from the entrances to docks and rivers.

MUD-FISH. The _Lepidosiren_, a very remarkable fish of the Gambia and other African rivers.

MUD-HOLE. An orifice with steam-tight doors in a marine engine, through which the deposit is removed from the boilers.

'MUDIAN, 'MUGIAN, OR BERMUDIAN. A boat special to the Bermuda Islands, usually decked, with the exception of a hatch; from two to twenty tons burden; it is short, of good beam, and great draft of water abaft, the stem and keel forming a curved line. It carries an immense quant.i.ty of iron, or even lead, ballast. Besides a long main and short jib-boom, it has a long, tapering, raking mast, stepped just over the fore-foot, generally unsupported by shrouds or stays; on it a jib-headed main-sail is hoisted to a height of twice, and sometimes three times, the length of the keel. This sail is triangular, stretched at its foot by a long boom. The only other sail is a small fore-sail or jib. They claim to be the fastest craft in the world for working to windward in smooth water, it being recorded of one that she made five miles dead to windward in the hour during a race; and though they may be laid over until they fill with water, they will not capsize.

MUD-LANDS. The extensive marshes left dry by the retiring tide in estuaries and river mouths.

MUD-LARKS. People who grovel about bays and harbours at low water for anything they can find.

MUD-LIGHTER. Large heavy punts which receive the mud or other matter from a dredging vessel. It is the _Marie Salope_ of the French. (_See_ HOPPER-PUNT.)

MUD-PATTENS. Broad clogs used for crossing mud-lands in the south of England by those who take sea-fowl.

MUD-Sh.o.r.eS. Are not unfrequent on an open coast. The most remarkable instance, perhaps, is that of the Guiana; the mud brought down by the river being thrown up by the current, and silted, with belts of mangroves in patches.

m.u.f.fLED DRUM. The sound is thus damped at funerals: pa.s.sing the spare cord, which is made of drummer's plait (to carry the drum over the shoulder), twice through the snares or cords which cross the lower diameter of the drum.

m.u.f.fLE THE OARS, TO. To put some matting or canvas round the loom when rowing, to prevent its making a noise against the tholes, or in the rowlocks. For this service thole-pins are best. In war time, rowing guard near the ships or batteries of the enemy, or cutting out, many a pea-jacket has been sacrificed for this purpose. Whale-boats have their oars m.u.f.fled to prevent frightening the whales.

MUFTI. Plain clothes. The civilian dress of a naval or military officer when off duty. This, though not quite commendable, is better than the half and half system, for a good officer should be either in uniform or out of it.

MUGGY. Half intoxicated. A sheet in the wind. Also used to express damp, oppressive weather.

MULCT. A fine in money for some fault or misdemeanour. Also, fines formerly laid on ships by a trading company, to raise money for the maintenance of consuls, &c.

MULET. A Portuguese craft, with three lateen sails.

MULL. Derived from the Gaelic _mullach_, a promontory or island; as Mull of Galloway, Mull of Cantyre, Isle of Mull. Also, when things are mismanaged; "we have made a mull of it."

MULLET. A well-known fish, of which there are several species. The gray mullet, _Mugil capito_, and the red mullet, _Mullus surmuletus_, are the most common on the British coast.

MULLS. The nickname of the English in Madras, from mulligatawney having been a standard dish amongst them.

MULREIN. A name in the Firth of Forth for the frog-fish, _Lophius piscatorius_.

MULTIPLE STARS. When several stars appear in close proximity to each other, they are spoken of, collectively, as a multiple star.

MUMBO JUMBO. A strange minister of so-called justice on the Gold Coast, who is usually dressed up for the purpose of frightening women and children. He is the arbiter of domestic strife.

MUNDUC. A sailor employed at the pearl-fishery, to haul up the diver and oysters.

MUNDUNGUS [from the Spanish _mondongo_, refuse, offal]. Bad, rank, and dirty tobacco.

MUN-FISH. Rotten fish, used in Cornwall for manure.

MUNITION BREAD. Contract or commissariat bread; _Brown George_.

MUNITIONS. Provisions; naval and military stores.

MUNITION SHIPS. Those which carry the naval stores for a fleet, as distinguished from the victuallers.

MUNJAK. A kind of pitch used in the Bay of Honduras for vessels'

bottoms.