Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A light anchor used for warping a vessel.
- intransitive verb To warp (a vessel) by means of a light anchor.
- intransitive verb To move by means of a light anchor.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To warp, as a ship; move by means of a light cable or hawser attached to an anchor, as in a river.
- To move by being pulled along with the aid of an anchor.
- noun A small anchor with an iron stock.
- Brisk; lively.
- Stout; potbellied.
- Also
kedgy . - To fill; stuff.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb (Naut.) To move (a vessel) by carrying out a kedge in a boat, dropping it overboard, and hauling the vessel up to it.
- noun (Naut.) A small anchor used whenever a large one can be dispensed with. See
kedge , v. t., andanchor , n.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun nautical A small
anchor used for warping a vessel; also called a kedge anchor. - noun Yorkshire A
glutton . - verb transitive To
warp (a vessel) by carrying out a kedge in a boat, dropping it overboard, andhauling the vessel up to it. - verb intransitive, of a vessel To move with the help of a kedge, as described above.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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In a sacred corner (as soon as ever we could attend to any thing) we hung up the leathern bag of tools, which had done much more toward saving the life of Uncle Sam than I did; for this had served as a kind of kedge, or drag, upon his little craft, retarding it from the great roll of billows, in which he must have been drowned outright.
Erema Richard Doddridge 2004
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In a sacred corner (as soon as ever we could attend to any thing) we hung up the leathern bag of tools, which had done much more toward saving the life of Uncle Sam than I did; for this had served as a kind of kedge, or drag, upon his little craft, retarding it from the great roll of billows, in which he must have been drowned outright.
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Man the boat, sir, and carry out the kedge, which is still in it, and lay it off here, about three p'ints on our larboard bow. "
Jack Tier James Fenimore Cooper 1820
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Macdonough then used his preset kedge anchors to spin his ship around in place and bring his other broadside to bear.
Between War and Peace Col. Matthew Moten 2011
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That leaking boat needs another anchor to insure its final destruction and Sarah is a one ton kedge. bea
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Macdonough then used his preset kedge anchors to spin his ship around in place and bring his other broadside to bear.
Between War and Peace Col. Matthew Moten 2011
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I shall do to-morrow, the first thing — run out a light anchor and kedge the schooner off the beach.
Chapter 35 2010
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I found a light kedge anchor in the fore-hold, where such things were kept; and with a deal of exertion got it on deck and into the boat.
Chapter 36 2010
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Madge, be sure to kedge around the side of that CCC.
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WV: kedge v; to frost to a depth of 1 inch or more.
chained_bear commented on the word kedge
"The hands who carried out the kedge and who cast off the moorings knew very well what they were about..."
--Patrick O'Brian, The Ionian Mission, 341
I think it might be a variant of ketch.
February 14, 2008
reesetee commented on the word kedge
It also has another meaning, I believe: a small anchor used in kedging (pulling a ship along by hauling on the cable of an anchor carried out from the ship and dropped).
Not sure which is meant here since I'm not doing the reading. :-)
February 14, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word kedge
Ohhh... I saw that practice used in a book, but it wasn't called kedging at all. It was some other weird word. I'll see if I can dredge it up.
HA!! I said DREDGE! Nautical humor!!
February 15, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word kedge
Aha. You were right, reesetee. Also, the term I was thinking of was "warping."
Here's what A Sea of Words: A Lexicon and Companion for Patrick O'Brian's Seafaring Tales has to say:
kedge OR kedge anchor
A small anchor with an iron or wooden stock used in mooring to keep a ship steady and clear from her bower anchor while she rides in a harbor or river, particularly at the turn of the tide, when she might ride over her principal anchor, entangle the stock or flukes with her slack cable, and loosen the anchor from the ground. Also used in warping, a way of moving a ship from one part of a harbor to another by dropping the kedge anchor and pulling on the hawser, thus "kedging off."
(p. 254)
February 15, 2008
reesetee commented on the word kedge
That's just warped. But I'm glad you dredged it up. :-D
February 15, 2008
yarb commented on the word kedge
Citation on keelek.
September 6, 2008