GOWK-STORM. Late vernal equinoctial gales contemporary with the gowk or cuckoo.
GOWT, or Gote. A limited passage for water.
GOYLIR. A small sea-bird held to precede a storm; hence seamen call them malifiges. Arctic gull.
GRAB. The large coasting vessel of India, generally with two masts, and of 150 to 300 tons.—To grab. In familiar language, to catch or snatch at anything with violence.
GRABBLE, To. To endeavour to hook a sunk article. To catch fish by hand in a brook.
GRAB SERVICE. Country vessels first employed by the Bombay government against the pirates; afterwards erected into the Bombay Marine.
GRACE. See [Act of Grace].
GRADE. A degree of rank; a step in order or dignity.
GRAFTING. An ornamental weaving of fine yarns, &c., over the strop of a block; or applied to the tapered ends of the ropes, and termed pointing.
GRAIN of Timber. In a transverse section of a tree, two different grains are seen: those running in a circular manner are called the silver grain; the others radiate, and are called bastard grain.—Grain is also a whirlwind not unfrequent in Normandy, mixed with rain, but seldom continues above a quarter of an hour. They may be foreseen, and while they last the sea is very turbulent; they may return several times in the same day, a dead calm succeeding.