The Sailor's Word-Book / An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc.

by W. H. Smyth

RACKING. Spun-yarn or other stuff used to rack two parts of a rope together.

RACKING A TACKLE OR LANIARD. The fastening two running parts together with a seizing, so as to prevent it from rendering through the blocks.

RACKING-TURNS. See [Nippering].

RACK-RIDER. The name of the samlet in northern fisheries, so called because it generally appears in bad weather.

RADDLE, To. To interlace; as in making boats' gripes and flat gaskets.

RADE [Fr.] An old spelling of the sea-term road. (See [Road].)

RADIUS. The semi-diameter of a circle, limb of a sextant, &c.

RADIUS-BAR of Parallel Motion. An intervening lever for guiding the side-rods of a steam-engine.

RADIUS-VECTOR. An imaginary line joining the centres of the sun and a planet or comet in any point of its orbit.

RADUS. A term used for the constellation Eridanus.