hawser

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Anglo-Norman haucer, from Old French haucier, halcier, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Vulgar Latin *helciaria, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin helcium (“collar harness”). Altered in English by mistaken association with hawse and perhaps haul. Compare French aussière, haussière.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɔːzə(r)

Noun

hawser (plural hawsers)

1. (nautical) a cable or heavy rope used to tow or moor a ship
   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Ebb-tide Runs”, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part V (My Sea Adventure), page 185:

     The hawser was as taut as a bowstring, and the current so strong she pulled upon her anchor. All around the hull, in the blackness, the rippling current bubbled and chattered like a little mountain stream.

   • 1924, Herman Melville, chapter 26, in Billy Budd^[1], London: Constable & Co.:

     A hatchet to my hawser? all adrift to go?

Translations

cable

• Danish: trosse (da) c
• Dutch: tros (nl) m
• Finnish: touvi (fi), trossi
• French: aussière (fr) f
• Galician: guindareza f
• German: Trosse (de) f, Tau (de) n
• Ido: amaro (io)
• Italian: canapo m, cima (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: torotoro, taura, torokaha, hawa
• Norman: aussiéthe f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: trosse m or f

  Nynorsk: trosse f

• Polish: cuma (pl) f
• Russian: перли́нь (ru) m (perlínʹ), трос (ru) m (tros), шварто́в (ru) m (švartóv)
• Spanish: cabo (es) m

Anagrams

• Washer, rewash, washer, whares