AWK. See [Auk].
AWKWARD SQUAD. A division formed of those men who are backward in gaining dexterity. (See [Squad].)
AWL. A tool of a carpenter, sail-maker, and cobbler.
AWME. A tierce of 39 gallons. A Dutch liquid measure.
AWNING. A cover or canvas canopy suspended by a crow-foot and spread over a ship, boat, or other vessel, to protect the decks and crew from the sun and weather. (See [Euphroe].) Also that part of the poop-deck which is continued forward beyond the bulk-head of the cabin.
AWNING-ROPES. The ridge and side ropes for securing the awning.
AXE. A large flat edge-tool, for trimming and reducing timber. Also an Anglo-Saxon word for ask, which seamen still adhere to, and it is difficult to say why a word should be thought improper which has descended from our earliest poets; it may have become obsolete, but without absolutely being vulgar or incorrect.
AXIOM. A self-evident truth or proposition, that cannot be made plainer by demonstration.
AXIS. The imaginary line upon which a planet revolves, the extremities of which are termed the poles,—therefore a line joining the north and south poles. The real or imaginary line that passes through the centre of any cylindrical or spherical body on which it may revolve. Also a right line proceeding from the vertex of a cone to the middle of its base. Also, an imaginary right line passing through the middle of a ship perpendicularly to its base, and equally distant from its sides;—an imaginary line passing through the centre of a gun's bore, parallel with its position.—Axis of a telescope. (See [Collimation, Line of].)
AXLE-TREES. The two cross-pieces of a gun-carriage, fixed across and under the fore and hinder parts of the cheeks. The cylindrical iron which goes through the wheel of the chain-pump, and bears the weight of it.