flemish

flemish

See also: Flemish

English

WOTD – 17 December 2021

Etymology

A flemish (noun sense) or Flemish coil of rope on the deck of the Saga Oseberg, a Norwegian replica of a Viking ship.

The noun is an ellipsis of Flemish coil, so called because the technique of coiling rope in this manner began with sailors from Flanders.[1]

The verb is from Flemish (“of or relating to Flanders”, adjective),[2] from Flemish coil.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈflɛmɪʃ/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• Audio (GA)

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• Homophones: Flemish, phlegmish
• Rhymes: -ɛmɪʃ
• Hyphenation: flem‧ish

Noun

flemish (plural flemishes)

1. (nautical) Short for Flemish coil (“a rope that has been arranged into a neat, flat spiral coil”).
   • 1864, [George Cupples], “An Event for Mr. Harry Spencer”, in Captain Herbert: A Sea Story. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], OCLC 681199109, page 38:

     He really knew more of the ropes than half the mess did, though he had made no show; he could have managed to stow the mizen-royal in a squall by himself, if such had been now proper in his position; there were even two or three out-of-the-way knots, splices, and flemishes—practised by veteran A.B.'s alone, revealed to few, and only to be acquired with perfection in the studious solitude of the merchant service, with which Dick Diamond could be seen in sequestered corners to perplex raw hands of the waist or after-guard, he having singular instincts for that art—but some of which Harry could have explained in passing by.

   • 1940, “Deck Seamanship”, in The Bluejackets’ Manual: United States Navy, 10th edition, Annapolis, Md.: United States Naval Institute, OCLC 12776987, pages 438–439:

     Frequently fancy Flemishes are made, for example, with a regular Flemish coil in the center and the rest of the line placed in various shapes about it but always so as to retain the appearance of a mat.

   • 1951, Edmund A. Gibson, Basic Seamanship and Navigation, New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Book Co., OCLC 250587978, page 363:

     A coiled, faked, or flemished down line is said to be laid up in coils, fakes, or flemishes.

Translations

short for Flemish coil — see Flemish coil

Verb

flemish (third-person singular simple present flemishes, present participle flemishing, simple past and past participle flemished)

1. (transitive, nautical) Often followed by down: to arrange (a rope) into a neat, flat spiral coil.
   • 1832, [Frederick Marryat], chapter XI, in Newton Forster; or, The Merchant Service. […], volume I, London: James Cochrane and Co., […], OCLC 3696068, page 138:

     In about twenty minutes, after the messenger had been stowed away, the cables coiled in the tiers, and the ropes flemished down on deck, the captain made his appearance, and directed the first-lieutenant to send aft the newly impressed men.

   • 1943 November, “More on Marlinespike”, in Charles F[rederic] Chapman, editor, Motor Boating: The Yachtsman’s Magazine, volume 72, number 5, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Magazines, OCLC 688637276, page 32, column 2:

     When great neatness is desired a line is flemished down. Successive circles of the line are wrapped about each other with the free end at the center. When it is finished it looks like a mat and with an old piece of line can be used as one. […] If a line is flemished down and left on a deck for some time it will mark the deck as well as remain wet on the under side, and therefore deteriorate. On small boats lines are usually either coiled down or flemished down.

   • 1964, Catherine [Irvine] Gavin, “The Molly-O”, in The Fortress, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, OCLC 1353913, page 26:

     The two Swedish sailors on deck, lounging and spitting into the water, seemed not to have been kept up to their duties, for paint work and bright work were far from brilliant, and the ropes were badly pointed and flemished.

Translations

to arrange (a rope) into neat, flat concentric coils

References

1. Compare “coil, n.³”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2021.
2. “flemish, v.¹”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2018.

Further reading

• Flemish coils on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• Himself, himself, mehfils