carvel Naut.
(ˈkɑːvɪl)
Forms: 5 kervel, -yle; 5 caruyll, 5–7 carvell, 6 caruile, karuell, 6–7 carvill, 7 carvile, -eile, karval, 6–7, 9 carvel; see also caravel.
[a. OF. caruelle, kirvelle (16th c. in Littré): see caravel. Carvel was the vernacular Eng. form from 15th to 17th c., and still continues to be so, so far as the word is truly at home, as in the comb. carvel-built, etc.]
The ordinary name from the 15th to the 17th c., of a somewhat small, light, and fast ship, chiefly of Spain and Portugal, but also mentioned as French and English. (Rarely mentioned after 1650 exc. as a thing of history, and then usually written caravel, after mod.F. caravelle, Pg. caravela.)
| 1462 Rep. Fr. Prisoners in Paston Lett. II. 93 In to Scotland ward in a kervyle of Depe. 1494 Fabyan vii. 447 Of y⊇ Englyshe men..ii. barkys, and a caruyll: the whiche thre small shyppys escaped by theyr delyuer Saylynge. 1513 Douglas æneis viii. ii. 61 The payntit carvellis fleting throu the flude. 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 13 Hoounds harroing after [the deer], az they had bin a number of skiphs too the spoyle of a karuell. 1590 Greene Fr. Bacon ix. 262 Rich Alexandria drugs, Fetch'd by carvels from ægypt's richest streights. 1613 Purchas Pilgr. viii. ii. 729 Thus Columbus is set forth with three Caruels at the King's charges. 1622 Heylin Cosmogr. iv. (1682) 29 An infinite number of karvals and small Boats. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ix. 40 A Caruell whose sailes stand like a paire of Tailers sheeres. 1631 Heywood Fair Maid of W. i. iv. i. Wks. 1874 II. 313 It did me good To see the Spanish Carveile vaile her top Vnto my Maiden Flag. 1686 Lond. Gaz. No. 2201/1 Besides..they have 9 or 10 Carvels or small Frigats, from 18 to 6 Guns. 1830 James Darnley xxxv. 154 From the biggest man-of-war to the meanest carvel. 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. iii. (1857) 42 All sorts of barques and carvels..correctly drawn on the slate. |
† 2. a. The Paper Nautilus or Argonaut. b. The floating mollusc Ianthina. c. A jelly-fish (Medusa). Obs.
| 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes 6 This little Fish, the Carvill, riseth to the top of the sea..and there..raises up his Maine Mast, spreads his sayles, which he makes of his own sinews, and begins his voyage. 1688 J. Clayton Virginia in Phil. Trans. XVII. 783 In the Sea I saw many little things which the Seamen call Carvels..they Swim like a small Sheeps Bladder above the Water, downwards there are long Fibrous Strings, some whereof I have found near half a yard long. 1690 J. Banister Virginia ibid. 671 The Nautilus or Carvil (as the Sailors call it). [1707 Sloane Jamaica I. 7 When we were in about 46 degrees of Northern Latitude, I first saw what seamen call a Caraval or Portuguese Man of War.] |
3. Comb. carvel-built, (Naut.) applied to a vessel ‘the planks of which are all flush and smooth, the edges laid close to each other..in contradistinction to clinker-built, where they overlap each other’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.). So carvel-planked a., carvel-work.
| 1678 Phillips [erroneously] Carnel-work, the building of ships first with their Timbers, and after bring on their planks. 1798 Capt. Miller in Nicolas Disp. Nelson VII. clix, The pains I had taken to get carver-built boats. 1805 Mariner's Dict., Carvel Work, in contradistinction to clincher work; is the common method of planking vessels by laying the edges close to each other, and caulking them to make them water tight. 1859 M{supc}Clintock Voy. Fox (1881) 249 She had been originally ‘carvel’ built. 1886 R. C. Leslie Sea-painter's Log xi. 252 The heavy carvel-planked boats of the French, Spaniards, or Italians. |