hawsehole

American

[hawz-hohl, haws-] / ˈhɔzˌhoʊl, ˈhɔs- /

noun

Nautical.

a hole in the stem or bow of a vessel for an anchor cable.

hawsehole British

/ ˈhɔːzˌhəʊl /

noun

Often shortened to: hawse. nautical one of the holes in the upper part of the bows of a vessel through which the anchor ropes pass

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of hawsehole

First recorded in 1655–65

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

He was not actually awake then, but he had the sensation of the ship halting, and heard a sound like that of chains whirling round the windlass and running through the hawseholes into the water.

From Project Gutenberg

Crawl in at the cabin windows and don't bother about the hawsehole.

From Project Gutenberg

The old ship herself longs to look out upon the land from her hawseholes once more, as Jack Lewis said right the other day when the captain found fault with his steering.

From Project Gutenberg

Mutiny flew, as it were, out at the hawseholes, while discipline re-entered by the cabin windows.

From Project Gutenberg

At length, when they heard the cable slipping through the hawsehole, they could stand it no longer, but sprang up the side in a body.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023