APPARELLED. Fully equipped for service.
APPARENT. In appearance, as visible to the eye, or evident to the mind, which in the case of astronomical motions, distances, altitudes, and magnitudes, will be found to differ materially from their real state, and require correcting to find the true place.
APPARENT EQUINOX. The position of the equinox as affected by nutation.
APPARENT HORIZON. See Horizon.
APPARENT MOTION. The motion of celestial bodies as viewed from the earth.
APPARENT NOON. The instant that the sun's centre is on the meridian of a place.
APPARENT OBLIQUITY. The obliquity of the ecliptic affected with nutation.
APPARENT PLACE OF A STAR. This is the position for any day which it seems to occupy in the heavens, as affected with aberration and nutation.
APPARENT TIME. The time resulting from an observation of the sun—an expression per contractionem for apparent solar time.
APPARITION. A star or planet becoming visible after occultation. Perpetual apparition of the lesser northern circles, wherein the stars being above the horizon, never set.
APPEARANCE. The first making of a land-fall: formerly astronomically used for phenomenon and phase. The day of an officer's first joining a ship after his being appointed.
APPLE-PIE ORDER. A strange but not uncommon term for a ship in excellent condition and well looked to. Neat and orderly. Absurdly said to be a corruption of du pol au pied.
APPLICATE. The ordinate, or right line drawn across a curve, so as to be bisected by its diameter.
APPLICATION. A word of extensive use, for the principles of adjusting, augmenting, and perfecting the relations between sciences.
APPOINTED. Commissioned—named for a special duty.
APPOINTMENT. The equipment, ordnance, furniture, and necessaries of a ship. Also an officer's commission. In the Army, appointments usually imply military accoutrements, such as belts, sashes, gorgets, &c.
APPORTER. A bringer into the realm.
APPRAISEMENT. A law instrument taken out by the captors of a vessel, who are primarily answerable for the expense.
APPRENTICE. One who is covenanted to serve another on condition of being instructed in an art, and ships' apprentices are to the same effect. Boys under eighteen years of age bound to masters of merchant ships were exempted from impressment for three years from the date of their indentures; which documents were in duplicate, and exempt from stamp duty.
APPROACHES. The trenches, zig-zags, saps, and other works, by which a besieger makes good his way up to a fortified place. (See Trenches.)
APPROVAL. The senior officer's signature to a demand or application.
APPROXIMATION. A continual approach to a quantity sought, where there is no possibility of arriving at it exactly.
APPULSE. A near approach of one heavenly body to another, so as to form an apparent contact: the term is principally used with reference to stars or planets when the moon passes close to them without causing occultation.
APRON, or Stomach-piece. A strengthening compass timber fayed abaft the lower part of the stern, and above the foremost end of the keel; that is, from the head down to the fore dead-wood knee, to which it is scarfed. It is sided to receive the fastenings of the fore-hoods or planking of the bow.—Apron of a gun, a square piece of sheet-lead laid over the touch-hole for protecting the vent from damp; also over the gun-lock.—Apron of a dock, the platform rising where the gates are closed, and on which the sill is fastened down.
APSIDES, Line of. The imaginary line joining the aphelion and perihelion points in the orbit of a planet.
APSIS. Either of the two points in planetary orbits where they are at the greatest and the least distance from the sun, and are termed higher or lower accordingly. The two are joined by a diameter called the line of the apsides.
AQUAGE. The old law-term denoting the toll paid for water-carriage.
AQUARIUS. The eleventh sign in the zodiac (α Aquarius Sadalmelik).
AQUATIC. Inhabiting or relating to the water.
AQUATILE. An archaism for aquatic; thus Howell's lexicon describes the crocodile as "partly aquatil, partly terrestrial."
AQUATITES. The law-term for everything living in the water.
AQUE. Wall-sided flat-floored boats, which navigate the Rhine.
AQUEDUCT. Conduits or canals built for the conveyance of water.
AQUILA. The constellation Aquila, in which α Aquilæ is an important star of the first magnitude: used by seamen in determining the latitude and longitude; also in lunar distances. (See Altair.)
AQUILON. The north-east wind, formerly much dreaded by mariners.
ARAMECH. The Arabic name for the star Arcturus.
ARBALIST [from arcus and balista]. An engine to throw stones, or the cross-bow used for bullets, darts, arrows, &c.; formerly arbalisters formed part of a naval force.
ARBITER. The judge to whom two persons refer their differences; not always judicial, but the arbiter, in his own person, of the fate of empires and peoples.
ARBITRAGE. The referring commercial disputes to the arbitration of two or more indifferent persons.
ARBITRATION. The settlement of disputes out of court.
ARBOR. In chronometry, a shaft, spindle, or axis.
ARBY. A northern name for the thrift or sea-lavender.
ARC, or Arch. The segment of a circle or any curved line, by which all angles are measured.
ARC DIURNAL. See Diurnal Arc.
ARC NOCTURNAL. See Nocturnal Arc.
ARC OF DIRECTION or Progression. The arc which a planet appears to describe when its motion is direct or progressive in the order of the signs.
ARC OF VISION. The sun's depth below the horizon when the planets and stars begin to appear.
ARCH-BOARD. The part of the stern over the counter, immediately under the knuckles of the stern-timbers.
ARCH OF THE COVE. An elliptical moulding sprung over the cove of a ship, at the lower part of the taffrail.
ARCHED SQUALL. A violent gust of wind, usually distinguished by the arched form of the clouds near the horizon, whence they rise rapidly towards the zenith, leaving the sky visible through it.
ARCHEL, Archil, Orchill. Rocella tinctorum fucus, a lichen found on the rocks of the Canary and Cape de Verde groups; it yields a rich purple. Litmus, largely used in chemistry, is derived from it.
ARCHES. A common term among seamen for the Archipelago. (See also Galley-arches.)
ARCHI-GUBERNUS. The commander of the imperial ship in ancient times.
ARCHIMEDES' SCREW. An ingenious spiral pump for draining docks or raising water to any proposed height—the invention of that wonderful man. It is also used to remove grain in breweries from a lower to a higher level. The name has been recently applied to the very important introduction in steam navigation—the propelling screw. (See Screw-propeller.)
ARCHING. When a vessel is not strongly built there is always a tendency in the greater section to lift, and the lower sections to fall; hence the fore and after ends droop, producing arching, or hogging (which see).
ARCHIPELAGO. A corruption of Aegeopelagus, now applied to clusters of islands in general. Originally