A request to be quiet or call for silence. On sailing the boatswain’s pipe was used as a tool to communicate with the ship’s crew. One such signal was ‘piping down the hammocks’ which was the signal to go below decks and retire for the night. When an officer wanted a sailor to be dismissed below he would have him ‘piped down’. Possibly also used to call sailors to silence so they could hear the commands of the officers.
Category: Nautical terms in everyday English
Keel over
To fall over suddenly in an uncontrolled manner. The keel is the longitudinal timber ridge along the middle of the hull to which the rest of the boat’s timbers are fixed. It acts as a counterbalance for the mast and keeps the boat stable in conditions that would otherwise cause the boat to capsize. ‘Keeled over’ referred to ships which had rolled on their side in turbulent waters and were in danger of sinking, or were laid on their side on land with their keels showing.
Loose Cannon
This phrase is used to describe someone who is unstable, unpredictable, or uncontrollable. This term has its roots in Naval warfare in the Age of Sail. Due to their weight the cannons on a sailing ship, which were generally referred to as guns, were secured to prevent them from moving about with the waves of the sea or to prevent damage from the enormous recoil when fired. A cannon that had become loose of its restraints and was rolling dangerously about the deck could cause immense damage to the vessel and crew.
Chock-a-block
To be packed together so tightly that there is very limited movement. This phrase is thought to originate from the use of the block and tackle system on a sailing ship, referring to when rigging blocks are so tight against one another that they can’t be tightened any further. The word ‘chock’, possibly derived from the Old French word for block – ‘choque’, was a wedge or block of wood used to prevent movement, and ‘block’ refers to the pulleys used in the ship’s rigging, that have one or more grooves over which a line is roved, being used to change the direction of a line or, in pairs, to form a tackle. When a ship’s rigging was pulled as tight as possible and there was no more free rope, the blocks would be tightly compacted and said to be ‘chock-a-block.’
Dutch courage
False or foolhardy courage that comes from consuming alcohol. A term believed to have been circulated by English sailors during the Anglo-Dutch wars of the 17th and 18th centuries. A term of derision which accused the Dutch of being cowardly and only able to fight when intoxicated. Conflicts between the Dutch and the English took place 1652-1654, 1665-1667, 1672-1674 and 1780-1784, mainly fought over trade and overseas colonies. Another claim is that the term arose when the Dutch and English were allies. Gin in its modern form was reputedly invented by the Dutch physician Franciscus Sylvius in the 17th century and English soldiers fighting alongside their Dutch allies in the Low Countries appreciated the effects of Jenever, or Dutch gin. Cheap gin was widely available in London by the early 18th century, resulting a period called the gin Craze between 1695 and 1735.