▪ I. fid, n. Chiefly Naut.
(fɪd)
Also 8–9 fidd.
[Of unknown origin; it is doubtful whether all the senses belong to the same word.]
1. A conical pin of hard wood, from 9 to 30 in. long, used to open the strands of a rope in splicing.
| 1615 E. S. Britain's Buss in Arb. Garner III. 629 Fids or Hammers. a 1642 Sir W. Monson Naval Tracts iii. (1704) 342/1 Fids and Marling Spikes. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Epissoir..a..splicing fid. 1779–80 Cook Voy. II. 39 Shaped somewhat like a large fid or sugar-loaf. |
2. A square bar of wood or iron, with a shoulder at one end, used to support the weight of the top-mast and also the topgallant mast.
| 1644 H. Manwayring Seaman's Dict. s.v., The pin in the heele of the top-mast which beares it upon the ches-trees, is a fidd. 1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 29 Fids are made square. 1824 Ann. Reg. 271* An improved fidd for the upper masts of ships. 1867 in Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. |
3. A plug of oakum for the vent of a gun.
| 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 31 Their fids and leads to keepe dry the touch hole. 1721–1800 in Bailey. 1867 in Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. |
4. ? transf. A plug or quid of tobacco.
| 1793 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Fid of Tobacco. 1860 in Bartlett Dict. Amer. 1867 in Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. |
5. a. dial. A small but thick piece of anything.
| 1838 in Holloway Provincialisms. 1851 Newland The Erne 71 It [a trout] was already cut into fids of five or six inches in length. 1883 Hampsh. Gloss., Fid, sb. a piece. Ex. ‘A fid of cheese’. |
b. A heap; pl. ‘heaps’, ‘crowds’. Also as an exclamation = Great!
| 1898 Kipling In Ambush in Stalky (1899) 13 Fids! Fids! Oh, Fids! I gloat! Hear me gloat! 1920 Blackw. Mag. Oct. 473/1 Look at the dirty blighters on that hill there! Fids of 'em! 1926 Ibid. Mar. 353/2 Little fids of snow. 1935 H. Nicolson Let. 26 Feb. (1966) I. 200 There was..a fat fid of letters from home. 1949 ― Let. 15 June (1968) III. 171, I would welcome a fid or two of Anchusa..among these white and silver objects. |
6. dial. See quot. [Perh. a different word; cf. fad, fawd, feald in same sense.]
| 1863 Morton Cycl. Agric. (E.D.S.), Fid (Kent), a thatcher's handful of straw. |
7. ‘A wooden or metal bar or pin, used to support or steady anything’ (Webster).
| 1851 J. S. Springer in Harper's Mag. III. 519 After having knocked out the ‘fid’, which united the chain that bound the load, the log rolled suddenly upon him. 1857 Colquhoun Oarsman's Guide 31 A fid is a wedge passed through a hole to secure anything. |
8. attrib., as fid-hammer, fid-hole; fid-hook (see quot. 1905).
| 1644 H. Manwayring Seaman's Dict., Fidd-hammer is a Fidd made sharpe at one end, to splise a roape, and a Hammer at the other end. 1721–1800 Bailey, Fidd-hammer. 1789 Trans. Soc. Encourag. Arts VII. 217 A top-mast inverted: the fid-hole to ship the tiller in. 1851 J. S. Springer Forest Life 108 (Th.), He examines above all the ‘fid-hook’ and the ‘dog-hook’, the former that it does not work out, the latter that it loose not its grappling hold upon the tree. 1869 E. J. Reed Shipbuild. xvi. 315 Thus steel yards have snapped in the truss, topmasts in the fid-hole. 1905 Terms in Forestry & Logging 37 Fid hook, a slender, flat hook used to keep another hook from slipping on a chain. 1958 W. F. McCulloch Woods Words 61 Fid hook—a. A flat hook with a narrow slot and a movable tongue... b. A flat hook without the tongue. |
▪ II. fid, v.
(fɪd)
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To fix (a topmast, etc.) with a fid. Also with out. Hence ˈfidded ppl. a., ˈfidding vbl. n.
| 1729 Capt. W. Wriglesworth MS. Log-bk. of the ‘Lyell’ 31 Sept., Rigg'd maintopmast and fidded it. c 1860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 18 Top tackle pendants, and falls..are used for Fidding or housing the mast. a 1865 Smyth Sailor's Word-Bk. (1867) 293 Fidded. 1883 Man. Seamanship for Boys 30 Holes in the heel of topmasts, for the top tackle pendants to reef through for housing, striking, or fidding. Ibid. 220 The cringle is..fidded out. 1901 W. C. Russell Ship's Adventure 342 A full-rigged ship must have fidded topmast and fidded top-gallant-mast. 1930 Sea Breezes 86 Does anybody know if the Prince Oscar had fidded royal masts when she first came out? 1948 R. de Kerchove Internat. Maritime Dict. 255/2 Fidded topmast. |