Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The ornament rising above the stern of ancient ships.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Rom. Antiq.) An ornamental appendage of wood at the ship's stern, usually spreading like a fan and curved like a bird's feather.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun obsolete, nautical An
ornamental appendage of wood at thestern of a Roman ship, usually spreading like a fan and curved like a bird's feather.
Etymologies
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Examples
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Some linguists link fenestra with Gk. verb phainein “to show;” others see in it an Etruscan borrowing, based on the suffix -stra, as in L. loan-words aplustre “the carved stern of a ship with its ornaments,” genista “the plant broom,” lanista “trainer of gladiators.”
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Lifting his eyes from the solarium set under the aplustre for reference in keeping the course, Arrius beheld the rower approaching.
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At length he tossed the loosened folds of his toga in the air; in reply to the signal, over the aplustre, or fan-like fixture at the stern of the vessel, a scarlet flag was displayed; while several sailors appeared upon the bulwarks, and swung themselves hand over hand up the ropes to the antenna, or yard, and furled the sail.
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The movement brought the stern to view, with all its garniture-Tritons like those at the bow; name in large raised letters; the rudder at the side; the elevated platform upon which the helmsman sat, a stately figure in full armour, his hand upon the rudder-rope; and the aplustre, high, gilt, carved, and bent over the helmsman like a great runcinate leaf.
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As he stepped upon the bridge the trumpets sounded, and over the aplustre rose the vexillum purpureum, or pennant of a commander of a fleet.
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About two hours later Arrius stood under the aplustre of the galley; in the mood of one who, seeing himself carried swiftly towards an event of mighty import, has nothing to do but wait-the mood in which philosophy vests an even-minded man with the utmost calm, and is ever so serviceable.
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Over the stern, where the aplustre cast its shadow in ordinary crafts, there was a pavilion-like structure, high-raised, flat-roofed, and with small round windows in the sides.
The Prince of India — Volume 02 Lewis Wallace 1866
qms commented on the word aplustre
Now fitful and ill-omened gusts stir
The sails that once swelled with his bluster.
The ship of state drifts
And fades in the mists
From bowsprit to drooping aplustre.
February 27, 2019