A "killack" in 1648?

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Fri Jan 23 03:49:07 UTC 2009


A  _killick_, i.e. a heavy rock used as an anchor, as on a small boat.  In
19th and 20th C. nautical slang it meant any anchor.

JL


On Thu, Jan 22, 2009 at 9:36 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      A "killack" in 1648?
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> What might be a "killack", in 1648?  Not in OED.
>
> "none shall cast an anker, Graplin, or Killack within, or neer the
> Cove, where it may indanger any other vessels"
>
> http://tomorrowstrust.ca/?p=6 (written 2006) has "First she reminded
> trustees, as a good Newfoundlander, of the Dory and the Killack. A
> fisher rows a dory facing the shore with the sea or destination at
> his back. This Davis said should remind trustees that they should
> never lose sight of from where they have come. They must know their
> history and build on its strengths she said. At the same time she
> related how the Killack, a home made anchor of wood and stone, must
> due to its fragility always be dropped into known ground. For
> Catholic trustees this she reminded them was the foundations of our
> faith and the vision they must protect."
>
>
> http://www.archive.org/stream/accountofpastpre00woodrich/accountofpastpre00woodrich_djvu.txt
> says its a fish.
>
> Joel
>
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