QUARTER-SLINGS. Are supports attached to a yard or other spar at one or both sides of (but not in) its centre.
QUARTERS OF THE YARDS. The s.p.a.ce comprehended between the slings, or middle and half-way out on the yard-arms.
QUARTER-STANCHIONS. Strong iron stanchions in a square-sterned vessel, connecting the main-rail with the taffrail; used for ridge-ropes to extend the awnings.
QUARTER-TACKLE. A strong tackle fixed occasionally upon the quarter of the main-yard, to hoist heavy bodies in or out of the ship.
QUARTER-TIMBERS. The framing timbers in a vessel"s quarter.
QUARTER-WATCH. A division of one-fourth of the crew into watches, which in light winds and well-conducted ships is enough; but the officers are in three, and they must not be found nodding.
QUARTER-WIND. Blowing upon a vessel"s quarter, abaft the main-shrouds.
QUASHEE. The familiar designation of a West India negro.
QUATUOR MARIA, OR BRITISH SEAS, are those four which surround Great Britain.
QUAY. _See_ KEY.
QUEBRADA. From the Spanish for ravine, or broken ground.
QUEBRANTA HUESOS [Sp.] Literally, _bone-breaker_. The great petrel, _Procellaria gigantea_.
QUECHE. A small Portuguese smack.
QUEEN ANNE"S FREE GIFT. A sum of money formerly granted to surgeons annually, in addition to their monthly twopences from each man, or as often as they pa.s.sed their accounts.
QUEEN"S c.o.c.kPIT. A mess of dissolute mates and midshipmen of the old _Queen_, 98, who held a sort of examination of ribaldry for a rank below that of gentleman.
QUEEN"S OWN. Sea provision (when a queen reigns); similar to _king"s own_.
QUEEN"S PARADE. The quarter-deck.
QUERCITRON. _Quercus tinctoria_, the name of a North American oak, which affords a valuable yellow dye.
QUERIMAN. A mullet of Guiana, found in turbid waters, where it lives by suction.
QUERPO [Sp. _cuerpo_, body]. A close short jacket:
"Long-quartered pumps, with trowsers blue, And querpo jacket, which last was new."
QUICKEN, TO. In ship-building, to give anything a greater curve; as, _to quicken the sheer_, opposed to straightening it.
QUICKLIME. That which is unslacked, good for cleaning and white-washing ships" holds.
QUICK-MARCH, OR QUICK-STEP. The ordinary pace is 3-1/4 miles to the hour, or 110 paces (275) feet to the minute.
QUICK MATCH. Used as a train to any charge to be fired rapidly, is made of cotton threads treated with a composition of gunpowder, gum, and water; and burns nearly as would a train of loose powder.
QUICK RELIEF. One who turns out speedily to relieve the watch before the sound is out of the bell.
QUICK-SAND. A fine-grained loose sand, into which a ship sinks by her own weight as soon as the water retreats from her bottom.
QUICK SAVER. A span formerly used to prevent the courses from bellying too much when off the wind.
QUICK-STEP. _See_ QUICK-MARCH.
QUICK-WORK. Generally signifies all that part of a ship which is under water when she is laden; it is also applied to that part of the inner upper-works of a ship above the covering board. Also, the short planks worked inside between the ports. In ship-building the term strictly applies to that part of a vessel"s side which is above the chain-wales and decks, as well as to the strakes which shut in between the spirkettings and clamps. In general parlance quick-work is synonymous with _spirketting_.
QUID. The chaw or dose of tobacco put into the mouth at a time. _Quid est hoc?_ asked one, tapping the swelled cheek of his messmate; _Hoc est quid_, promptly replied the other.
QUIETUS. A severe blow, a settler.
QUIHI. The sobriquet of the English stationed or resident in Bengal, the literal meaning being, "Who is there?" It is the customary call for a servant; one always being in attendance, though not in the room.
QUILKIN. A west-country term for a frog.
QUILL-DRIVER. Captain"s clerk, purser"s secretary, _et hoc genus omne_.
QUILL-TUBES. Those in use with port-fires for firing guns before the introduction of detonating and friction-tubes. (_See_ TUBES.)
QUILTING. A kind of coating formed of sinnet, strands of rope, &c., outside any vessel containing water. Also, the giving a man a beating with a rope"s end.
QUINCUNX. Forming a body of men chequerwise. A method of surveying a coast by five vessels in quincunx was proposed by A. Dalrymple to the admiralty, when that board would not have allowed of the employment of one.
QUINK. A name in the Orkneys for the golden-eyed duck, _Anas clangula_.
QUINTAL. A commercial weight of a hundred pounds.
QUINTANE. An early military sport, to try the agility of our country youth.
QUINTE. The fifth guard in fencing.
QUISCHENS. The old term for _cuisses_, the pieces of armour which protected the thighs.
QUITTANCE. A release or discharge in writing for a sum of money or other duty, which ought to be paid or done on the ship"s account.
QUOD. Durance, prison.
QUOIN. A wooden wedge adjusted to support the breech of a gun, so as to give the muzzle the required elevation or depression. Also, one of the mechanical powers.
QUOINS. Are employed to wedge off casks of liquids from each other, and steady them, in order that their bilges may not rub at sea, and occasion leaks.
QUOST. The old spelling of _coast_. See Eliot"s _Dictionarie_, 1559.
QUOTA-MEN. Those raised for the navy at enormous expense by Pitt"s quota-bill, in 1795, under bounties of from 20 to 60.