ground ways

American  

plural noun

1. Shipbuilding. hardwood timbers laid end-to-end to form an inclined track on which the keel of a ship can slide during launching.

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Etymology

Origin of ground ways

First recorded in 1705–15

Example Sentences

Below again, Marlowe explained to us how the launching ways were composed of the ground ways, fastened to the ground as the name implied, and the sliding ways that were to move over them.

From The Treasure-Train by Reeve, Arthur B. (Arthur Benjamin)