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Webster 1913 Edition
Taffrail
Taff′rail
,Noun.
(Naut.)
The upper part of a ship’s stern, which is flat like a table on the top, and sometimes ornamented with carved work; the rail around a ship's stern.
[Written also
tafferel
.] Definition 2024
taffrail
taffrail
English
Naval Captain on the Poop Deck Taffrail, by William Heysmann Overend
Noun
taffrail (plural taffrails)
- (nautical) The curved wooden top of the stern of a sailing man-of-war or East Indiaman, usually carved or decorated.
- (nautical) The rail around the stern of a ship.
- 1833, Edgar Allan Poe, "MS. Found in a Bottle,"
- One evening, leaning over the taffrail, I observed a very singular, isolated cloud, to the N.W.
- 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, Chapter 29,
- […] with heavy, lumber-like pace he was measuring the ship from taffrail to mainmast […]
- See also citations under tafferel.
- 1833, Edgar Allan Poe, "MS. Found in a Bottle,"
- (nautical) The deck area at the stern of a vessel.
Alternative forms
Derived terms
Translations
curved wooden top of the stern of a sailing man-of-war or East Indiaman
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rail around the stern of a ship
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