ADVANCED POST. A spot of ground seized by a party to secure their front. A piquet or outpost.
ADVANCED SQUADRON. One on the look-out.—Advance, or vanguard, that division of a force which is next the enemy, or which marches before a body.—Advance fosse, a ditch of water round the esplanade or glacis of a fortification.—Advance! the order to marines and small-arm men to move forward.
ADVANCE-LIST. The register by which two months' wages to the crew are paid, on first commission, and a quarter's to officers.
ADVANCEMENT. Promotion to higher rank.
ADVANCE MONEY. In men-of-war and most merchant ships the advance of two months' wages is given to the crew, previous to going to sea; the clearing off of which is called working up the dead horse.
ADVANCE NOTE. A document issued by owners of a ship or their agents, promising to pay a seaman, or to his order, a sum of money in part of his wages, within a certain number of days after he has sailed in the ship. Advance notes are quite negotiable before a seaman has taken his departure.
ADVANTAGE, or Vantage-ground. That which gives superiority of attack on, or defence against, an enemy; affording means of annoyance or resistance.
ADVENTURE. An enterprise in which something is left to hazard.—A bill of adventure is one signed by the merchant, by which he takes the chances of the voyage.
ADVERSARY. Generally applied to an enemy, but strictly an opponent in single combat.
ADVERSE. The opposite of favourable; as, an adverse wind.