razee

American  

[rey-zee] / reɪˈzi /

noun

1. a ship, especially a warship, reduced in height by the removal of the upper deck.

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verb (used with object)

razeed, razeeing

1. to cut down (a wooden ship) by removing the upper deck.

razee British  

/ ˈræziː /

noun

1. a sailing ship that has had its upper deck or decks removed

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verb

1. to remove the upper deck or decks of (a sailing ship)

Etymology

Origin of razee

1785–95; < French ( vaisseau ) rasé razed (ship), past participle of raser to raze

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

razee razeed

In the evening, the Thanadar's Moonshee came to beg a "razee nama," or "letter of satisfaction," which we gave him, together with a "bukshish," with which he seemed well pleased.

From Diary of a Pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet by William Henry Knight

Of course America had no means of raising a blockade, as each squadron contained generally a 74 or a razee, vessels too heavy for any in our navy to cope with.

From The Naval War of 1812 Or the History of the United States Navy during the Last War with Great Britain to Which Is Appended an Account of the Battle of New Orleans by Theodore Roosevelt

A breeze sprang up by noon, and the two nearest vessels of the fleet, a thirty-eight-gun frigate, and a razee of fifty, slipped their moorings and came down before it.

From Yankee Ships and Yankee Sailors: Tales of 1812 by James Barnes

The Endymion would never have engaged the frigate President, but knowing herself backed by three frigates and a razee, who, though somewhat slower sailors, would get up before she could be taken.

From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 4 by Thomas Jefferson Randolph

Twice a 74 captured or destroyed two frigates, and a razee performed a similar feat.

From The Naval War of 1812 Or the History of the United States Navy during the Last War with Great Britain to Which Is Appended an Account of the Battle of New Orleans by Theodore Roosevelt

The English Royal Sovereign, 3,765 tons and 330 feet length, and the Prince Albert, 2,529 tons and the same length, are razeed wooden vessels.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 11, No. 63, January, 1863 by Various

At last, I took their advice, and "razeed" them, as they phrased it.

From Redburn. His First Voyage by Herman Melville

It’s Ephraim Brown—very ginerally razeed down to Eph by my friends—and I’m master and owner of this here schooner, named a’ter my old woman away back to Baltimore.

From Turned Adrift by Edward S. Hodgson

Meanwhile, the others had razeed a frigate, the Merrimac, and upon an angular roof laid railroad-iron to make her shot-proof.

From The Lincoln Story Book A Judicious Collection of the Best Stories and Anecdotes of the Great President, Many Appearing Here for the First Time in Book Form by Henry Llewellyn Williams

Frank, there, will wear his old monkey jacket, the skirts of which he razeed last winter for the very purpose.

From Warwick Woodlands Things as they Were There Twenty Years Ago by Henry William Herbert