fearnought
(ˈfɪənɔːt)
[f. phrase: fear v. (in imperative) + nought.]
1. A stout kind of woollen cloth, used chiefly on board ship in the form of outside clothing in the most inclement weather, also as a protective covering or lining for the outside door of a powder magazine, the portholes, etc. Cf. dreadnought n. 1.
| 1772–84 Cook Voy. (1790) I. 31 A Magellanic Jacket made of a thick woollen stuff called Fearnought. 1794 Sporting Mag. III. 193 The wadding..is made of..fearnaught or shepherd's cloth. 1836 Sir J. Ross Narr. 2nd Voy. viii. 110 A skreen lined with fearnought. 1859 F. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 210 A wooden plug covered with fearnought. |
| attrib. 1772–5 Cook Voy. (1777) I. i. ii. 20, I..gave to each man the fearnought jacket and trowsers allowed them. 1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan II. 77 A ragged fear-naught great⁓coat. 1882 Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 96 It is passed through fearnought shoots. |
2. dial. (See
quot.)
| 1883 Almondbury Gloss. (E.D.S.), Fearnought, a machine for mixing wool, shoddy, and mungo before putting upon the condenser. |
3. A drink to keep up the spirits.
| 1880 L. Wallace Ben-Hur iv. x. 231 This is the fear⁓naught of the tentmen. |