CAUDICARIÆ. A kind of lighter used by the Romans on the Tiber.
CAUL. The membrane encompassing the head of some infants when born, and from early antiquity esteemed an omen of good fortune, and a preservative against drowning; it was sought by the Roman lawyers with as much avidity as by modern voyagers. Also, a northern name for a dam-dike. Also, an oriental license. (See [Kaule].)
CAULK, To. (See [Caulking].) To lie down on deck and sleep, with clothes on.
CAULKER. He who caulks and pays the seams. This word is mistaken by many for [cawker] (which see).
CAULKER'S SEAT. A box slung to a ship's side whereon a caulker can sit and use his irons; it contains his tools and oakum.
CAULKING of a Ship. Forcing a quantity of oakum, or old ropes untwisted and drawn asunder, into the seams of the planks, or into the intervals where the planks are joined together in the ship's decks or sides, or rends in the planks, in order to prevent the entrance of water. After the oakum is driven in very hard, hot melted pitch or rosin is poured into the groove, to keep the water from rotting it. Among the ancients the first who made use of pitch in caulking were the inhabitants of Phæacia, afterwards called Corfu. Wax and rosin appear to have been commonly used before that period; and the Poles still substitute an unctuous clay for the same purpose for the vessels on their navigable rivers.
CAULKING-BUTT. The opening between ends or joints of the planks when worked for caulking.
CAULKING-IRONS. The peculiar chisels used for the purpose of caulking: they are the caulking-iron, the making-iron, the reeming-iron, and the rasing-iron.
CAULKING-MALLET. The wooden beetle or instrument with which the caulking-irons are driven.
CAURY. Worm-eaten.