WAIST-NETTINGS. The hammock-nettings between the quarter-deck and forecastle.
WAIST-RAIL. The channel-rail or moulding of the ship's side.
WAIST-TREE. Another name for [rough-tree] (which see).
WAIVE, To. To give up the right to demand a court-martial, or to enforce forfeitures, by allowing people who have deserted, &c., to return to their duties.
WAIVING. The action of dispensing with salutes—by signal, by motion of the hand to guards, &c., and to vessels, which may be, in accordance with old custom, passing under the lee to be hailed and examined.
WAIVING AMAIN. A salutation of defiance, as by brandishing weapons, &c.
WAKE. The transient, generally smooth, track impressed on the surface-water by a ship's progress. Its bearing is usually observed by the compass to discover the angle of lee-way. A ship is said to be in the wake of another, when she follows her upon the same track. Two distant objects observed at sea are termed in the wake of each other, when the view of the farthest off is intercepted by the one that is nearer. (See [Crossing a Ship's Wake].)
WALE-REARED. Synonymous with wall-sided.
WALES. The thickest strakes of wrought stuff in a vessel. Strong planks extending all along the outward timbers on a ship's side, a little above her water-line; they are synonymous with [bends] (which see). The channel-wale is below the lower-deck ports, and the main-wale between the top of those ports and the sills of the upper-deck ports.
WALK AWAY! The order to step out briskly with a tackle fall, as in hoisting boats.