▪ I. hammock1
(ˈhæmək)
Forms: α. 6–9 hamaca, 7 -acca, -acco, -ackoe, hammacho, 8 hamacoe, 8–9 hammacoe. β. 7 hamack(e, hammac(k, -aque, amack, hamock, hammok, 8 hammoc, 8–9 hamac, 7– hammock.
[a. Sp. hamaca of Carib origin; cf. F. hamac (1555 in Hatz.-Darm.).]
1. A hanging bed, consisting of a large piece of canvas, netting, etc. suspended by cords at both ends; used esp. by sailors on board ship, also in hot climates or seasons on land.
| α 1555 Eden Decades 200 Theyr hangynge beddes whiche they caule Hamacas. 1596 Raleigh Discov. Gviana 55 They lay each of them in a cotten Hamaca, which we call brasill beds. 1613 R. Harcourt Voy. Guiana in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 191 Hamaccas, which are Indian beds, most necessary in those parts. 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 7 Saylers, who..get forthwith into their beds (or hamackoes) [1677 or hamacks]. 1761 London Mag. XXX. 220 Orders were..given for sewing him up in a hamacoe, in order to bury him. 1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 170 To keep the hammacoes in the stantions. 1847 Prescott Peru (1850) II. 101 Carried on the shoulders of the natives in the hamacas, or sedans, of the country. |
| β 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 11 A Hamacke, the lockers, the round-house. 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 45 Lye down and rest them in their Hamocks. 1675 Mistaken Husband v. i. in Dryden's Wks. (1884) VIII. 626 It cannot be so convenient as a Hammaque. 1698 Froger Voy. 134 There is nothing but Famine that can draw them out of their Amacks. 1723 J. Atkins Voy. Guinea (1735) 112 Travelling is in Hammocks..slung cross a Pole and bore up at each end by a Negro. 1804 Nelson 26 Apr. in Nicolas Disp. (1845) V. 514 Seamen's beds and hammocks are very much wanted. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxviii. 93, I went aboard, and turned into my hammock. |
2. transf. Applied to the suspended nest of the hangbird or American oriole; and to the suspended case made by the caterpillars of certain moths.
| 1856 Bryant Poems, Strange Lady vii, And there the hang-bird's brood within its little hammock swings. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. vii. 208 A caterpillar which had completed its hammock up to, say, the sixth stage of construction. 1874 Carpenter Ment. Phys. i. ii. §60 (1879) 61 There is a Caterpillar that makes a very complicated hammock. |
† 3. = hammock-cloth 1.
Obs. rare—1.
| 1690 Lond. Gaz. No. 2612/4 Lost..a Coach-Horses Hammock of Crimson and Musk Colour Caffaw fringed with the same colours. |
4. Comb., as
hammock-bearer;
hammock-cradled adj.;
hammock-batten, one of the battens or strips of wood nailed to the ship's beams, from which the hammocks are slung;
hammock chair, a folding reclining-chair with canvas support for the body, suitable for use in a sitting-room or garden; a deck-chair;
hammock-clew,
-clue, the series of small cords (
hammock-lines) by which a hammock is suspended at each end;
hammock-man, one of two or more men employed in carrying a hammock slung on poles;
hammock-moth (see
quot.);
hammock-nettings,
orig. rope nettings in which the hammocks when rolled up were stowed away on board ship, these being lashed or hung to the
hammock-rails above the bulwarks; hence, the long troughs afterwards constructed for this purpose on the top of the bulwarks of the spar-deck in a man-of-war;
hammock-rack = hammock-batten;
hammock-shroud, a hammock used as a shroud in which to bury a corpse at sea.
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Hammock Battens or Racks, cleats or battens nailed to the sides of a vessel's beams, from which to suspend the seamen's hammocks. |
| 1819 Edin. Rev. XXXII. 389 Carried by *hammock-bearers at a foot pace. |
| 1881 Graphic 18 June in L. de Vries Vict. Advts. (1968) 127/1 The *Yankee hammock chair..costs but 17s. 6d. complete. 1885 Army & Navy Co-op. Soc. Price List II. 1478 Portable Hammock Chairs. 1971 Country Life 1 Apr. (Suppl.) 44/2 (Advt.), Early 19th century hammock chair in mahogany upholstered in deep-buttoned Havana brown leather. |
| 1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 62 *Hammock-lines are made from groundtows. |
| 1734 W. Snelgrave Guinea & Slave Trade 25, I had six *Hammock-men, who relieved one another by turns. [1777 Suckling in Laughton Lett. & Disp. Nelson 9 The Commanding Officer should always be particular in having the hammocks well stowed in the nettings.] |
| 1899 Cambr. Nat. Hist. VI. 379 The *Hammock-moth, Perophora sanguinolenta, of the centre of South America, the larva of which constructs its own portable habitations out of its own excrement. |
| 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle (1862) 349 Heavy bulwarks four feet high, surmounted by *hammock-nettings. |
| 1833 Marryat P. Simple xv, The captain..stood upon the weather *hammock-rails, holding by the main-rigging. |
| 1850 Tennyson In Mem. vi, His heavy-shotted *hammock-shroud Drops in his vast and wandering grave. |
▪ II. hammock2 see
hummock.