SCUTTLEBUTT
Most of us know the term scuttlebutt as a folksy way to refer to rumor or gossip, but in nautical nomenclature, a scuttlebutt is an open cask of drinking water or a drinking fountain. The former definition evolved out of the nautical sense, as sailors would engage in idle chat while gathered around their version of the office water cooler.
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SEA DOG
The opposite of a landlubber might be called a sea dog, defined as “a sailor, especially an old or experienced one.” The term can also refer to a pirate, a harbor seal, or a luminous appearance near the horizon, such as meteor, regarded by mariners as an omen of bad weather.
CHOCKABLOCK
This fun-to-say adjective means “extremely full” or “jammed,” as in “This park is chockablock with puppies.” But if those puppies are on a boat, you might want to find another term to describe the state of canine crowding. In a nautical context, chockablock means “having the blocks drawn close together, as when the tackle is hauled to the utmost.”
FATHOM
Most of us know fathom as a verb, meaning “to penetrate to the truth of” or comprehend. But the sea dogs out there know that a fathom is also a unit of length, used primarily in nautical measurements, equal to six feet. This length is an approximation of the length of outstretched arms, which brings us to the Old English word meaning “span of outstretched arms.” The verb sense comes from Old English meaning “to embrace, surround, envelop."
FLOTSAM
Flotsam is a legal term that refers to wreckage of a ship and its cargo found floating on the water. It’s often used in conjunction with jetsam, another word from maritime law that refers to goods cast overboard deliberately which sink or wash ashore. The phrase flotsam and jetsam is often used to refer to useless or unimportant items or odds and ends.
From Dictionary.com
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