ˈhawse-hole Naut.
A cylindrical hole, of which there are two in the bows of a vessel, for the cable to run through. Phr. to enter (come, creep, get in) by the hawse-holes: to enter the service at the lowest grade, to rise from before the mast.
| 1664 E. Bushnell Compl. Shipwright 8 Provided that the Rails..fall not fowl of the halshols. 1748 Anson's Voy. iii. iv. 330 We made a great quantity of water through our hawse-holes. 1803 Phil. Trans. XCIII. 321 This..accident was owing to the hawse-holes being extremely large and low, the hawse-plugs not being in, and the holes being pressed under water by a crowd of sail on the ship. 1833 Marryat P. Simple xvii, Working my way up as regularly as one who gets in at the hawsehole and crawls aft to the cabin windows. 1894 C. N. Robinson Brit. Fleet 341 Very few captains and flag-officers came in at the hawseholes. |