HONORABLE, noble, high spirited, full of rectitude, and beyond the least approach of meanness or corruption. This term is frequently attached to surnames from false and vain courtesy.
HOOKS. Pieces of bent iron fixed to the transom plates of a field-carriage are so called. They serve to fix the bricoles or ropes for drawing it occasionally backwards or forwards.
Hooks and Eyes. It is directed in all well-disciplined corps, that every officer, non-commissioned officer, and soldier, when regimentally dressed, should have the uniform coat hooked across the chest. This regulation has, in some degree, been dispensed with during the winter months, as far as it regards the officers who have been permitted to button their coats. In some corps the indulgence is rendered nugatory, as the facings are sewed to the coat. The dressing of a line is certainly rendered more perfect by the use of the hooks and eyes, as they prevent any intermediate obstacle along the line of sight. This nicety is indispensible in parade business, and the propriety of some general rule being established is manifest, since every soldier knows, that the slightest deviation from the laudable system of uniformity almost always leads to gross neglect.
HOOKUM, an Indian word, signifying order or command.
HOOKUMNAUMEH, in India, signifies a letter of instructions, or the paper that contains orders.
HOOP of iron, a circular iron band. Several sorts of hoops are used in the construction of artillery carriages, as nave and axle tree hoops, &c.
HOPITAL, Fr. hospital. During the old French government, there existed 80 military hospitals under the immediate sanction of the king. These hospitals were subject to the war-minister, from whom they received instructions, and they were all originally built for the benefit of sick and disabled soldiers. The chief appointments in each hospital consisted of a comptroller of accounts, a physician, a surgeon major, and a contractor, whose sole duty was to provide for the wants and necessities of the invalid troops. These were permanent establishments. In time of war, every army had a certain number of hospitals attached to its component parts. There were likewise other hospitals, which were under the care of the intendant of each province. They chiefly consisted in those erected on the frontier and in garrison towns.
Hopital sur mer, Fr. hospital-ship. A particular vessel, which is always attached to a naval armament, and is provided with the necessary accommodations for the sick and wounded belonging to the ships of war. The same precautions (indeed greater if possible) are indispensably necessary to prevent the dreadful consequences of contagion, that are directed to be observed in the fumigation, &c. of transports. During the old government of France, hospital-ships were of a particular construction. Independently of the equipage, tackle, &c. belonging to every other navigable ship, these vessels were directed to have their decks extremely high, to have large port-holes, and to have the space between the decks constantly clear, so that the cots and bedding of the sick might be conveniently placed, and a constant circulation of free air be preserved.
HOPLITAI, foot soldiers among the Greeks, who bore heavy armor, and engaged with broad shields and long spears. These took precedence of all other foot soldiers.—Potter’s Greek Ant. vol. ii. c. 3.
HOQUETON, Fr. a sort of garment, which was worn during the old government of France by gentlemen belonging to the king’s body guard, who were called gardes de la manche. It sometimes signifies a serjeant; but the term is obsolete.