BOUCHE. See [Bush].
BOUGE or Bowge and Chine, or Bilge and Chimb. The end of one cask stowed against the bilge of another. To prepare a ship for the purpose of sinking it.
BOUILLI. Termed by seamen bully-beef; disliked because all the substance is boiled away to enrich the cook's grease-tub, and the meat is useless as food; rejected even by dogs. In one ship of war it produced mutiny; vide Adams' account of the Bounty miseries. It is also the name given to highly cooked meat in hermetically sealed tin canisters.
BOULDER-HEAD. A work against the encroachment of the sea, made of wooden stakes.
BOULDERS. Stones worn and rounded by the attrition of the waves of the sea: the word, on the authority of Hunter, was considered a technical term in the fourteenth century, as appears in a warrant of John of Gaunt for the repair of Pontefract Castle—"De peres, appelés buldres, a n're dit chastel come nous semblerez resonables pur la defense de meisme."
BOULEPONGES. A drink to which many of the deaths of Europeans in India were ascribed; but in Bernier's "Travels," in the train of Aurungzebe, in 1664, we are informed that "bouleponge is a beverage made of arrack, sugar, lemon-juice, and a little muscadine." Probably a corruption of bowls of punch. (See [Punch].)
BOUNCE. The larger dog-fish.
BOUNCER. A gun which kicks violently when fired.
BOUND. Destined for a particular service. Intended voyage to a place.—Ice-bound. Totally surrounded with ice.—Tide-bound, or be-neaped. (See [Neaped].)—Wind-bound. Prevented from sailing by contrary wind.—Where are you bound to?—i.e. To what place are you going?—Bound on a cruise. A corruption of the old word bowne, which is still in use on the northern coasts, and means to make ready, to prepare.
BOUNTY. A sum of money given by government, authorized by act of parliament or royal proclamation, to men who voluntarily enter into the army or navy; and the widow of such volunteer seaman killed or drowned in the service was entitled to a bounty equal to a year's pay.