DREDGING. Fishing by dragging the dredge.
DREDGING MACHINE. A large lighter, or other flat-bottomed vessel, equipped with a steam-engine and machinery for removing the mud and silt from the bottom, by the revolution of iron buckets in an endless chain.
DREDGY. The ghost of a drowned person.
DREINT. The old word used for drowned, from the Anglo-Saxon.
DRESS, To. To place a fleet in organized order; also, to arrange men properly in ranks; to present a true continuous line in front.—To dress a ship. To ornament her with a variety of colours, as ensigns, flags, pendants, &c., of various nations, displayed from different parts of her masts, rigging, &c., on a day of festivity.
DREW. A name in our northern isles for the Fucus loreus, a narrow thong-shaped sea-weed.
DRIBBLE. Drizzling showers; light rain.
DRIES. A term opposed to rains on the west coast of Africa.
DRIFT. The altered position of a vessel by current or falling to leeward when hove-to or lying-to in a gale, when but little head-way is made by the action of sails. In artillery, a priming-iron of modern introduction used to clear the vent of ordnance from burning particles after each discharge. Also, a term sometimes used for the constant deflection of a rifled projectile. (See [Deflection].)
DRIFTAGE. The amount due to lee-way. (See [Drift].)