SMUG-BOATS. Contraband traders on the coast of China; opium boats.
SMUGGLING. Defrauding the public revenue by importing or exporting goods without paying the customs dues chargeable upon them.
SMURLIN. A bivalve mollusc, Mya truncata, used as food in the Shetland Islands.
SNAGGLE, To. To angle for geese with a hook and line properly baited.
SNAGS. The old word for lopped branches and sharp protuberances, but now chiefly applied to sunken obstructions in the American rivers.
SNAIL-CREEPING. Gouging out the surfaces of timbers in crooked channels, to promote a circulation of air.
SNAKE-PIECES. See [Pointers].
SNAKING. The passing of small stuff across a seizing, with marline hitches at the outer turns; or the winding small ropes spirally round a large one, the former lying in the intervals between the strands of the latter. (See [Worm].) The stays and backstays, when the Shannon engaged the Chesapeake, were snaked with half-inch rope from fathom to fathom, to prevent their falling if shot away. Also, the finishing touch to neat seizings, to prevent the parts from separating when becoming slack by drying.
SNAPE, To. In ship-carpentry, is to hance or bevel the end of anything, so as to fay upon an inclined plane: it is also designated flinch.
SNAP-HAUNCE. An old word for a fire-lock or musket; a spring-lock for fire-arms.