tafferel
(ˈtæfərəl, ˈtæfrəl)
Also 7 taffer(r)ell, 8 -eral, -eril, -rill, 8–9 -arel, 9 -aril, -rel.
[a. Du. tafereel panel, picture, dim. of tafel table (for *tafeleel, with dissimilation of l..l to r..l). The 19th c. corruption to taffrail, with accompanying change of sense, shows confusion of the ending -rel with rail n.: cf. quot. 1704.]
† 1. A panel: esp. a carved panel. Obs.
| 1622–3 in Brit. Mag. (1833) III. 655 Item paid to John James a carver for cutting a Tafferell with a deathes head vpon it which is sett vpp at the entraunce..to our parish Church 00 15 00. 1632 in E. B. Jupp Carpenter's Co. (1887) 302 Carpenters..haue allwaies vsed to haue..the cutting of ballesters, hances, tafferrells, pendants and piramides. |
2. Naut. The upper part of the flat portion of a ship's stern above the transom, usually ornamented with carvings, etc. In later use including, and now applied to, the aftermost portion of the poop-rail, and spelt taffrail.
| 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Tafferel, is the uppermost Part, Frame, or Rail of a Ship abaft over the Poop. 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4116/3 Only her Hull from the Taffrill to the Midships remained above Water. 1750 Minutes Bd. of Admiralty 1 Jan. (P.R.O.), To cause the Taffarel and Quarter Pieces of the Model of the Victory at the Royal Academy at Portsmouth to be carved agreeably to the ornaments of that Ship. 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle ix. (1859) 179 He again attempted to drag me away from my hold on the Tafferel. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 155 Taffarel or taffrail, the upper part of the ship's stern, usually ornamented with carved-work or mouldings, the ends of which unite to the quarter-pieces. 1857 Wilkinson Egypt. Pharaohs 113 Boats had..one rudder turning on the taffrel. |
b. Comb. tafferel-rail = taffrail.
| 1846 Young Naut. Dict. 244 Taffrail or Tafferel-Rail, the rail over the heads of the stern timbers. |