▪ I. hawse, n.1 Naut.
(hɔːz)
Forms: 5–7 halse, 6 haulse, 7 hause (houlse, 8 harse), 6– hawse.
[A phonetic spelling of 16th c. halse, haulse, app. a. ON. háls neck (cf. halse n.), fig. part of the forecastle or bow of a ship or boat, also, the front sheet or tack of a sail, the end of a rope, etc.]
1. That part of the bows of a ship in which the hawse-holes are cut for the cables to pass through; hence, sometimes, in pl., the hawse-holes themselves.
| 1497 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 313, ij peces of tymbre for the halse of the seyd ship. 1567 G. Fenner in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 147 We cut our cable at the hawse. 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. lxiv. 130 To let slippe their Gabells by theyr Halsis. a 1608 Sir F. Vere Comm. 28 After many attempts to wind up the anchor I was forced to cut cable in the haulse. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 10 The Hauses are those great round holes before, vnder the Beak-head, where commonly is used the Cables when you come to an Anchor, the bold or high Hause is the best. 1633 T. James Voy. 46 Our Cables froze in the hawse. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v., A Bold Hawse, is when the Hole is lofty above Water. 1748 Anson's Voy. iii. iv. 330 We were in a leaky ship, with three cables in our hawses. 1842 F. Cooper Jack o' Lantern I. 140 Two men appeared near the Knight-heads..looking at the vessel's hawse. |
† 2. A cable, a hawser.
Obs.| 1598 Florio, Alzana..a halse or cable to draw a bote or ship withall. [1611 Alzaniere..a halse or halsier in a ship]. a 1642 Sir W. Monson Naval Tracts iii. (1704) 346/1 Cat⁓holes are over the Ports in the Gun-Room..to heave the Ship a stern by a Cable, or Hause. |
3. The space between the head of a vessel at anchor and the anchors, or a little beyond the anchors,
esp. in
phr. athwart († thwart) the hawse (
cf. athwart-hawse,
s.v. athwart C),
to cross the hawse, etc. Also
fig.| 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Brave Sea-fight Wks. iii. 39/1 In the darke night they might haue chained two or three Frigots together, and turning them vpon them, vpon the Ebbe, thwart their hawse, might much haue endangered them. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 332 Both fell foul one anothers houlses, through which mischance her boltsprit gave our mizen shrouds a [etc.]. 1666 Lond. Gaz. No. 21/4 He fell thwart the Man of Wars Halse. 1667 Ibid. No. 160/4 The Vice Admiral..intended then to cross the Hause. 1712 E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 350 Then I lay a-thwart the Enemy's Harse. 1833 Marryat P. Simple xxxv, Nothing would suit Nelson but this four-decked ship; so we crossed the hawse of about six of them, and..were abreast of her. 1859 Reade Love me little (Ward) ix. 112 ‘There are mischiefmakers behind’. ‘Ay?.. I'll teach them to come across my hawse’. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., If a vessel drives at her anchors into the hawse of another she is said to ‘foul the hawse’ of the vessel riding there; hence the threat..‘If you foul my hawse, I'll cut your cable’. |
4. ‘The situation of the cables before the ship's stem, when she is moored with two anchors out from forward, one on the starboard, and the other on the port bow’ (Smyth
Sailor's Word-bk. 1867).
b. Phr.
clear hawse, when both cables lead directly (without crossing) to their respective anchors.
foul hawse,
open hawse (see
quots.).
† full hawse, with all the cable run out (
obs.).
to clear the hawse,
fresh (freshen) the hawse (see
quots.).
cross,
elbow,
round turn in the hawse (see
quot. 1881, and
elbow n. 2 e).
| 1597 J. Payne Royal Exch. 33 The ship on hull, the helme on lee, full hawse in tumbling roades. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Burning in the Hawse, is when the Cable endures an extraordinary Stress. Clearing the Hawse, is the untwisting of two Cables, which being let out at two several Hawses, are wound about one another. Riding upon the Hawse, is when any weighty Substance falls directly before the Hawse, or lies across it. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v., Fresh the Hawse when there is reason to suspect the cable may be fretted in those holes, they veer out a little, to let another part endure the stress..Freshing the hawse is also used when new pieces are laid upon the cable in the hawse. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. i. 116 These..gusts make it difficult for ships..to keep a clear hawse when anchored. 1788 Chambers' Cycl., Hawse, foul, implies that the cables lie across the stern, or bear upon each other, so as to be rubbed or chafed by the motion of the vessel. 1794 Rigging & Seamanship II. 254* When a ship at her moorings has her cables lead strait to her anchors, without crossing, she is said to ride with an open hawse. 1881 L. R. Hamersly Naval Encycl. s.v., If from an open hawse a ship swings 180° she brings a cross in the hawse, a second half swing in the same direction makes an elbow, a third, a round turn, a fourth, a round turn and an elbow, and so on. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as
hawse-bag,
-block,
-bolster,
-box,
-boxing,
-buckler;
hawse-fallen pa. pple.,
hawse-full a.,
hawse-hook,
-timber: see
quots.;
hawse-wood = hawse-timber. Also
hawse-hole, -piece, -pipe, -plug.
| 1819 Pantologia s.v., *Hawse-bags, are bags of canvas made tapering, and stuffed full of oakum..to prevent the sea from washing in at these [hawse] holes. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Hawse-blocks, bucklers, or pieces of wood made to fit over the hawse-holes when at sea, to back the hawse-plugs. *Hawse-bolsters, planks above and below the hawse-holes. Also, pieces of canvas stuffed with oakum and roped round, for plugging when the cables are bent. |
| c 1860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 55 The *hawse boxes, or deck pipe. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Hawse-box, or Naval Hood, pieces of plank bolted outside round each of the hawse-holes, to support the projecting part of the hawse-pipe. |
| 1881 L. R. Hamersly Naval Encycl., *Hawse-Boxing..was formerly a projection left upon the hawse⁓timbers in the wake of the hawse-holes. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Hawse-bucklers, plugs of wood to fit the hawse-holes, and hatches to bolt over, to keep the sea from spurting in. |
| Ibid. 373 To ride *hawse-fallen, is when the water breaks into the hawse in a rough sea, driving all before it. |
| 1692 Capt. Smith's Seaman's Gram. i. xvi. 81 To Ride *Hawse-full, is when in a rough Sea the Water breaks into the Hawses. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 373 Riding hawse-full, pitching bows under. |
| c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 123 *Hawse-hook, the breast-hook over the hawse-holes. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Hawse-timbers, the upright timbers in the bow, bolted on each side of the stem, in which the hawse-holes are cut. |
▪ II. hawse, n.2 var. of
hause.
▪ III. † hawse, v. Obs. Also 6
hause, 6–7
halse, 7
haulse.
[a. F. hausser, in 16th c. haulser, OF. halcier, haucier (12th c.) = Pr. alsar, ausar, It. alzare, Sp. alzar:—late L. type *altiare, f. altus high. For the initial h in Fr. see haut; and cf. hance v.] trans. To raise, exalt, hoist.
| c 1500 Melusine xxiv. 166 He made to be haused a lytel galyote out of the grete galeye with viii hores. 1513 More Rich. III, Wks. 62/1 Euery thing was hawsed aboue the mesure: amercementes turned into fines, fines into raunsomes. 1548 Hall Chron., Rich. III, 11 b, Halsed up their sailes. 1600 Holland Livy xxv. xxv. 568 Bomilcar..having sea-roume, halsed up sailes. |
Hence
† hawse n.3 Obs., exaltation, enhancement.
| c 1475 Partenay 498 Puttyng my hole hert..and thought ay To your honour, hawse, and encrese also. |
▪ IV. hawse var. of
halse n. and v.
2