HIRST. The roughest part of a river-ford. A bank.
HITCH. A species of knot by which one rope is connected with another, or to some object. They are various; as, clove-hitch, racking-hitch, timber-hitch (stopped), rolling-hitch, running-hitch, half-hitch, blackwall-hitch, magnus-hitch, marline-spike hitch, harness-hitch, &c. (See [Bend] and [Knot].) It also signifies motion by a jerk. Figuratively, it is applied to an impediment. A seaman often hitches up his trowsers, which "have no lifts or braces."—To hitch is to make fast a rope, &c., to catch with a hook. Thus of old, when a boat was to be hoisted in, they said—"Hitch the tackles into the rings of the boat."
HITCHER. An old term for a boat-hook.
HO! or Hay! An exclamation derived from our Danish ancestors, and literally meaning stop!
HOAKY. A common petty oath—"By the hoaky!" by your hearth or fire.
HOAM. The dried fat of the cod-fish.
HOASTMEN. An ancient guild at Newcastle dealing in coals.
HOAY, or Hoy! a word frequently added to an exclamation bespeaking attention, as "Main-top, hoay!" and is chiefly used to persons aloft or without the ship.
HOB-A-NOB. To drink cosily; the act of touching glasses in pledging a health. An early and extensive custom falling into disuse.
HOBBLE. A perplexity or difficulty.—Hobbles, irons or fetters.