Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The forward part of a ship's prow.
- noun The wedge-shaped end of a bridge pier, designed to divide the current and break up ice floes.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The fore part of a ship's prow, which cuts the water. Also called
false stem . - noun The lower portion of the pier of a bridge, formed with an angle or edge directed up the stream, so as more effectually to resist the action of the water, ice, etc.
- noun The razorbill, or black skimmer, Rhynchops nigra.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Naut.) The fore part of a ship's prow, which cuts the water.
- noun A starling or other structure attached to the pier of a bridge, with an angle or edge directed up stream, in order better to resist the action of water, ice, etc.; the sharpened upper end of the pier itself.
- noun (Zoöl.) A sea bird of the Atlantic (
Rhynchops nigra ); -- called alsoblack skimmer ,scissorsbill , andrazorbill . SeeSkimmer .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun nautical The forward
curve of thestem of aship - noun the
wedge of a bridgepier , that resists the flow of water and ice. - noun a black skimmer; a sea bird of the species Rhynchops niger, that flies low over the sea, "cutting" the water surface with its lower
mandible to catch small fish.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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It was deep water, and a slight ripple under what might be termed the cutwater of the tree indicated a movement.
The Lake Gun James Fenimore Cooper 1820
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a makeshift devised when proper caulking is impossible; cutwater, which is not only a bird but the bow of a ship, or a rope or cable in front of it, or a construction on the upstream side of a bridge; and halyard, the rope that hauls up a sail -- sails having been attached to yardarms when ships were square-rigged.
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In the stern the motor chugged on easily; at the bows I heard the tinkling ripple from the cutwater.
Movie Night 2010
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The cutwater crushed, the bowsprit sundered, decks awash with blood.
DANCING ON AIR 2009
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The head is strongly drawn over [backwards] and arched down like a cutwater [drawing itself back from the line of the keel].
Wildwood Roger Deakin 2009
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The head is strongly drawn over [backwards] and arched down like a cutwater [drawing itself back from the line of the keel].
Wildwood Roger Deakin 2009
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V – shaped nick in the face of the floe, the slope her cutwater often causing her bows to rise till nearly clear of the water, when she would slide backwards, rolling slightly.
South: the story of Shackleton’s last expedition 1914–1917 2006
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He hoisted himself onto the cutwater, and by the bowsprit arrived at the forecastle.
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He took breath, then, hoisting himself up, he managed to reach the extremity of the cutwater.
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He hoisted himself onto the cutwater, and by the bowsprit arrived at the forecastle.
qroqqa commented on the word cutwater
. . . he felt that he was looking upon a figurehead in a museum, which though static, no longer roosting on its cutwater, seemed yet to be going against the wind . . .
—Djuna Barnes, Nightwood
November 19, 2008