Glossary

This is a work in progress. If something's missing, leave me a comment - B

AGLET: the plastic or metal tip of a shoelace.

AC: AnteCubital fossa - the inside corner of the elbow, where several veins are close to the surface and, hence, a common place to take blood or insert an IV line.

BAR: (Nautical) a shallow area across part or all of the mouth of a harbor, estuary, etc.

BINNACLE: a stand for a ship’s or other vessel’s compass, located on the quarterdeck, and often provided with a light.

BLUE FLAG: (Railroad): A blue flag attached to a locomotive, rail car, or similar, indicating that the locomotive, etc, is not to be moved or coupled to. Blue flags are typically applied to equipment that is being serviced, where moving or coupling to the equipment could result in injury or death to a worker, or damage to the equipment. For safety reasons, once a blue flag is applied, it may only be removed by the person who applied it. To blue flag a piece of equipment is to apply such a flag.

BLUE PETER: (Nautical): a square blue flag with a white square at its center, indicating the letter p. Used alone, the blue peter is the symbol of imminent departure, used to recall members of the crew prior to sailing.

BOARDING AXE: a flat-topped axe with a spike (or pick) protruding from the back of its head.

BOLT ROPE (also, boltrope): a rope that is sewn into the edge of a sail, to provide strength to the sail. (added 7 April 2015)

BREECH
* the buttocks. (added 6 Feb 2010)
* the closed end of a gun, opposite the muzzle. (added 6 Feb 2010)

BUS: an unofficial term for an ambulance, only considered acceptable in some regions, such as the New York City and New Gotham areas.

CARRONADE: essentially a cannon with a shorter barrel. The short barrel meant that the carronade was lighter than a cannon firing the same size shot, and could therefore be handled by fewer sailors. Alternately, larger caliber carronades could be used. On the downside, the shorter barrel meant that the carronade was less accurate (and less precise) than a cannon. The short barrel also meant that fire leaving the carronade's muzzle was close to the hull, creating a potential fire hazard.

In practice, a vessel could be equipped with cannon, enabling it to accurately fire smaller shot from a distance; carronades, enabling it to fire larger, more powerful shot, but only at short range; or a combination of the two.

CHASER: (Nautical) a cannon or other large gun mounted to fire forward or backward. A stern chaser is mounted in the stern, and fires behind the ship, while a bow chaser is mounted in the bow to fire forward. The curvature of the bow and the presence of the bowsprit forced bow chasers to fire slightly to port or starboard, rather than exactly straight ahead.(added 25 Feb 2010)

COUNTER: the rear face of a ship's or other vessel’s stern.

COURSE a square sail on, or meant to be hoisted on, a lower MAST. Courses were further named based on the mast they belonged to, with the fore course on the fore mast, the main course on the main mast, etc. (added 25 Feb 2010)

CYLINDER-TOP DESK: similar to the roll-top desk (which it predates), the cylinder-top desk features a writing surface backed by a series of pigeon holes or drawers. A curved panel can be rotated down from the top of the desk to conceal the writing surface and pigeon holes/drawers.

DARK LANTERN: (19th Century) a lantern designed to shine in a single direction, with a shutter to regulate the amount of light shed. With the shutter entirely closed, the lantern sheds no light whatsoever.

DEFIBRILLATE/DEFIBRILLATOR: pending - for the moment I'm going to defer to Wikipedia on this one.

DONKEY: short form of DONKEY ENGINE

DONKEY ENGINE: a stationary engine used for lifting or pulling loads, but not for propulsion.

ENDOTRACHEAL TUBE: a tube inserted through the mouth, into the throat, and through the vocal cords to provide an airway for a patient. An inflatable cuff at the far end holds the tube in place and prevents anything from sliding past the tube (e.g. prevents saliva from entering the lungs).

ET TUBE: an ENDOTRACHEAL TUBE.

FIREBOX (also, fire box): (Steam power): the part of the boiler in which the fire burns. (added 26 Feb 2010)

FIRE ENGINE: a piece of fire apparatus equipped to pull water from a hydrant, lake, or other source, and pump it into hoses for use in fire suppression: a pumper. Sometimes shortened to engine. Compare FIRE TRUCK

FIREMAN:
* Naval Artillery, 19th Cent.: a sailor whose job is to put out any fire arising from the guns use, as from errant sparks lighting in the rigging.
* Steam power: someone whose job is to feed fuel to a boiler, and (for wood and coal) to make sure that the fuel is properly distributed in the FIREBOX. Also known as a stoker. (added 26 Feb 2010)

FIRE TRUCK: a piece of fire apparatus equipped to raise fire fighters to an elevated position, such as a ladder truck, TOWER LADDER, or SNORKEL TRUCK. Sometimes shortened to truck. Compare FIRE ENGINE

FISH: (Nautical): (verb) to apply reinforcing splints to a damaged mast. (noun) such as splint. A mast that had been reinforced in this manner was said to be fished, and was unlikely to be as good as new.

FREEBOARD: the distance between a ship's waterline and the deck. Water rising above the freeboard can spill into the ship, unless the deck has been sealed. In any event, water rising above the freeboard will wash over the deck.

GALLERY: (Nautical) a series of windows spanning the stern of a vessel. Also stern gallery.

GLASS
* Steam engineering: a sight glass: a glass tube that shows the water level in a boiler.
* Hydraulics, and Refrigeration: a sight glass enabling one to view the color, condition, etc of a liquid. (added 7 April 2015)
* Nautical: a telescope, sand glass (e.g. hour glass) or barometer.

GUDGEON (typically pl: gudgeons): of the hinge that supports a ship's rudder and allow it to pivot, the part that is attached to the ship's stern. The gudgeon consists of a socket to accept the pintle, which is the part of the hinge connected to the rudder, and a bracket to connect the gudgeon to the ship.

GUNPOWDER (added 16 Jan 2016): Gunpowder in the age of sail was what is now known as black powder, a mix of charcoal, saltpetre, and sulphur. Originally, the components were ground and then mixed, then stored in kegs bound with copper (i.e. non-sparking) hoops. This gunpowder, which came to be known as serpentine powder, had a tendency to separate out into its components if jostled, as it undoubtedly would be in the magazine of a ship at sea. Serpentine powder was also hygroscopic, absorbing water from the environment, and the varying size of its components limited the ability of air to circulate and participate in combustion.

These tendencies were solved by wetting down the mixed powder to hold the components together, and then passing it through a series of screens to divide it by grain size. Smaller-grained powder was used in smaller fire-arms. This powder proved more reliable and more powerful than the serpentine powder it replaced. After the development of cylinder powder (see below), this corned powder came to be marked with blue lettering on its kegs.

Later still, it was discovered that preparing the charcoal in a (cylindrical) oven rather than the traditional kiln made it more uniform, which in turn yielded more powerful gunpowder. This cylinder powder was marked in red.

The final type of gunpowder was recycled, which was less powerful than the cylinder powder (my source offers no direct comparison between recycled and corned powder), and was marked in white.

JOHNSON BAR: on a steam engine, the Johnson bar regulates the valve timing. Varying the timing trades power for speed, and also determines the direction that the engine (and vehicle) runs. This makes running a steam engine different than running an internal combustion engine, since there is no transmission; power output is controled by varying the speed and direction of the engine. A result of this is that a steam-powered locomotive can run just as fast backwards as it can forwards (steam-powered ships cannot, since the shape of the hull allows faster movement when traveling forward).

LARYNGOSCOPE: a tool for looking into the larynx (in the throat), for the purposes of inserting an ENDOTRACHEAL TUBE, or to locate and remove an object that a patient is choking on. (added 5 Apr 2010)

LUNAR WHITE: a bluish-white color, named for its resemblance to the moon. See also WHITE SIGNAL.

MAST: a SPAR, standing vertically. Masts were designed to support YARDS, but also found use supporting elevated crew positions, such as for a lookout, or to allow sharpshooters to fire down on an enemy. Masts further served as attachment points for flags, lights, lightning rods, radio and radar antennas (once developed), and the like.

In larger vessels, masts consisted of several spars. The lowest portion was the lower mast (also sometimes known as the mast, confusingly), and sat on the vessel's keel. Above this came the topmast, and then the topgallant. Naval (military) vessels might carry royal masts above the topgallants, as might merchentmen belonging to the East India Company. Using multiple spars enabled the masts to be shortened in heavy weather, so as to reduce the amount of TOPHAMPER and so reduce the strain on masts and hull.

MOLE:
* Chemistry a unit, similar to the word dozen, but whereas dozen indicates 12 of something, mole indicates 6.02 x 10^23 of something. (added 2 Apr 2010)
* Espionage: an undercover agent, apparently working for one government (or group), but secretly working for another. (added 2 Apr 2010)
* Nautical: a stone, masonry, or earthen pier or breakwater, or connection between two places separated by water. (added 2 Apr 2010)

MONITOR:
* Medicine (20th, 21st century): a heart monitor, or a combination heart monitor and DEFIBRILLATOR. A heart monitor is a device that depicts the heart's electrical activity as a moving line on a screen.
* Nautical: a type of steam powered, ironclad warship, named for the U.S.S. Monitor (1862), having one or two rotating cylindrical turrets, each typically housing a pair of heavy guns. Monitors were typically on the small side and had a low FREEBOARD, the idea being that they would present as small a target to the enemy as possible. Their low freeboard made monitors unfit for ocean travel (the Monitor, indeed, almost sank at sea as she hurried south to meet the Virginia/Merrimack, and later did sink at sea as she traveled between ports) and the ships were generally restricted to rivers and shore patrol. (edited 2 Apr 2010)

POINT:
* Nautical: 1/32nd of a circle, or a little more than eleven degrees, generally used as a direction. The points of the compass are the 32 cardinal directions, i.e. north, north by east, north-northeast, northeast by north, northeast, northeast by east, east-northeast, east by north, east, east by south, east-southeast, southeast by east, southeast, southeast by south, south-southeast, south by east, south, south by west, south-southwest, southwest by south, southwest, southwest by west, west-southwest, west by south, west, west by north, west-northwest, northwest by west, northwest, northwest by north, north-northwest, north by west, north. (Film aficionados may note that there is no "North by Northwest". (added 2 Feb 2010)
* Railroad: one of the two moving rails in a railroad switch. (added 2 Feb 2010)

POST HOC, ERGO PROMPTER HOC: Latin: "it follows this, therefore it was caused by this". The fallacious idea that if one event follows an earlier event, then it must have been prompted by or caused by that earlier event. (added 2 Feb 2010)

POUCH OF REDA: REDA'S POUCH (added 2 Apr 2010)

POWDER: GUNPOWDER (added 16 Jan 2016)

PREMATURE VENTRICULAR CONTRACTION: a type of abnormal electrical activity in the heart, where the VENTRICLEs contract out of sequence (prematurely). PVCs may perfuse (pump blood, and thus produce a pulse) or they may be nonperfusing. PVCs are indicate that the heart is having difficulty, and may slip into a heart rhythm that cannot support life, such as V-TACH (which is essentially a string of uninterrupted PVCs) or V-FIB. (added 6 Apr 2010)

PVC: a PREMATURE VENTRICULAR CONTRACTION. (added 6 Apr 2010)

RAKE: (Nautical) (1) to fire SHOT along the long axis of a ship, etc (i.e. from BOW to STERN or from STERN to BOW) so that the shot travel along the full length of the ship, allowing them to do maximum damage. (2) the angle of a MAST from vertical. Most masts were raked AFT a few degrees, rather than pointing straight up at 90 degrees from the deck. (added 7 April 2015)

REDA'S POUCH: the compartment created by the interface between the uterus and the urinary bladder. Also known as the pouch of Reda. (added 2 Apr 2010)

SAIL: a sailing vessel.

SAMPLE: acronym for Signs and symptoms, Allergies, Medications, (pertinent) Past medical history, Last oral intake (last food or drink), Events leading up to injury or illness. SAMPLE, coupled with a physical exam, comprises the necessary parts of an EMT's or paramedic's evaluation of a patient. (added 2 Apr 2010)

SCHWA: the upside-down e used in phonetic descriptions to indicate some unstressed vowels.

SHIP: (Naval, 19th Century): a three-masted sailing vessel, with each MAST square-rigged and in three parts, i.e. lower mast, topmast, and topgallant. A ship might also carry royal masts above the topgallants.

SHROUD: (Naval) rigging designed to prevent a MAST from falling to the side. The shrouds, along with the ratlines running horizontally between them, also formed a ladder to enable sailors to climb up into the masts and YARDs.

SINUS: (Anatomy) broadly, a pocket, such as one of the empty spaces in the skull facial bones. Also refers to the part of the heart in which the electrical signal for the heartbeat normally originates. A sinus rhythm is one that starts at this location, as opposed to some other place in the heart. (added 5 Apr 2010)

SMOKE BOX: (also, smokebox) the portion of a boiler in which smoke and combustion gasses collect after heating the water. The (smoke) stack emerges from the smoke box. On a steam locomotive, the smokebox is found at the front, and is sometimes painted in a different color than the rest of the locomotive. (added 2 Feb 2010)

SNORKEL TRUCK: a FIRE TRUCK fitted with a large bucket at the end of an articulated boom, for a fire fighter to stand in while working. A fire fighter stands in the bucket and is lifted into the air to allow access to a fire from an elevated position: a cherry picker. Sometimes shortened to snorkel.

SNOW: a sailing vessel equipped with two square-rigged masts, plus a snowmast (also known as a trysail mast) placed very closely behind the mainmast. The snowmast is rigged for fore-and-aft sails. Snows were generally used as merchant vessels, though a few saw military service.

SPAR: a piece of wood (later, similarly-shaped iron or steel) designed to serve as a MAST or a YARD.

SPLINTER NETTING: rope netting spread above the WEATHER DECK to protect the crew from falling debris, as during a battle. (added 1 Sept 2014)

STOKER: (Steam power): a FIREMAN. (added 26 Feb 2010)

SUPERHEATER: in a steam engine, a fire in the FIREBOX generates combustion gasses, which heat water in a boiler, creating steam. This steam can be used directly, or it can be heated further in a superheater, which pipes the steam back though the combustion gasses. Steam that has been through a superheater is said to be superheated, and delivers more power than non-superheated steam. (added 26 Feb 2010)

TOWER LADDER: a ladder truck fitted with a bucket at the end of its ladder, for a fire fighter to stand in while working. A cross between a ladder truck and a SNORKEL TRUCK. Sometimes shortened to tower.

TOP: (Naval): a platform at the top of a lower MAST, designed for spreading the SHROUDs of the topmast. In battle, sharphooters might stand in the top and fire down on the enemy's deck.

TOPHAMPER: The portion of a sailing vessel designed to support the sails, such as the MASTs, rigging, TOPs, etc.

TOUCH HOLE: the hole near the BREECH of a gun by which fire is applied to the gunpowder, firing the weapon. (added 6 Feb 2010)

TRUNNION: one of two horizontal posts on the opposite sides of a cannon, etc, used for attaching the gun to its carriage. (added 6 Feb 2010, edited 7 July 2011)

TUMBLEHOME: an inward slope of a ship's or other vessel's side as it rises from the water.

VENTRICLE: an anatomical chamber. In the heart, the ventricles are the main pumping chambers. (added 6 Apr 2010, edited 7 July 2011)

V-FIB: ventricular fibrillation. An abnormal heart rhythm where the VENTRICLEs beat in a disorganized fashion that cannot produce a pulse. V-fib is one of two heart rhythms that can be DEFIBRILLATED. (added 6 Apr 2010)

V-TACH: ventricular tachycardia. A type of tachycardia (abnormally fast heart rate) where the VENTRICLEs beat without being signaled to do so. V-tach may produce a pulse, or it may be pulseless. Pulseless v-tach is one of two heart rhythms that can be DEFIBRILLATED; v-tach with a pulse requires a more sophisticated type of electrical therapy known as synchronized cardioversion. (added 6 Apr 2010)

WARD M: a slang term for the hospital morgue.

WEATHER DECK:
* Nautical: The deck exposed to the weather, by virtue of having no deck above it, or only a partial deck above it. (added 1 Sept 2014)
* Space: a deck or space from which a spacecraft can be exited; an antechamber to an airlock. (added 1 Sept 2014)

WHITE SIGNAL: (Railroad): early colored-light railroad signals used white light to indicate 'go'. Red signals indicated 'stop,', and yellow indicated 'approach' (proceed to the next signal but be prepared to stop there) or 'stop, then approach." Green later replaced white. SPOILER (highlight text to read): The problem with white was that a lost or broken red (or yellow) lens would reveal a white light, tricking the engineer into proceeding when he should not. In the early twentieth century, some railroads used a lunar white signal for restricting - allowing a train to slowly enter a track on which another train was known to be already present, with the understanding the the engineer would have to be able to quickly bring his train to a halt. Modern signals may be much more complex, using a multitude of colored and/or white lights at the same time.

YARD: (Nautical) a long piece of wood, (later, iron or steel), held up by a MAST and carried horizontally, for the purpose of spreading and supporting a sail. In conjunction with their associated masts, yards also functioned as cranes for lifting cargo, boats, etc. Also, a facility for building or servicing ships, etc. (edited 5 Apr 2010)

Last update: 16 January 2016

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