Also, the paying off the ship's officers and crew,
and the removal of the ship from active service to ordinary.

PAYING OUT. The act of slackening a cable or rope, so as to let it run
freely. When a man talks grandiloquently, he is said to be "paying it
out."

PAYMASTER. The present designation of the station formerly held by the
purser; the officer superintending the provisioning and making payments
to the crew.

PAY ROUND, TO. To turn the ship's head.

PAY-SERJEANT, IN THE ARMY. A steady non-commissioned officer, selected
by the captain of each company, to pay the subsistence daily to the men,
after the proper deductions.

PEA-BALLAST. A coarse fresh-water sand used by ships in the China trade
for stowing tea-chests upon.

PEA OR P.-JACKET. A skirtless loose rough coat, made of Flushing or
pilot cloth.

PEAK. The more or less conical summit of a mountain whether isolated or
forming part of a chain. Also, the upper outer corner of those sails
which are extended by a gaff.

PEAK, TO. To raise a gaff or lateen yard more obliquely to the mast. _To
stay peak_, or _ride a short stay peak_, is when the cable and fore-stay
form a line: a long peak is when the cable is in line with the
main-stay.

PEAK DOWN-HAUL. A rope rove through a block at the outer end of the gaff
to haul it down by.

PEAK HALLIARDS. The ropes or tackles by which the outer end of a gaff is
hoisted, as opposed to the _throat-halliards_ (which see).

PEAK OF AN ANCHOR. The bill or extremity of the palm, which, as seamen
by custom drop the _k_, is pronounced pea; it is tapered nearly to a
point in order to penetrate the bottom.

PEAK PURCHASE. A purchase fitted in cutters to the standing
peak-halliards to sway it up taut.

PEARL. A beautiful concretion found in the interior of the shells of
many species of mollusca, resulting from the deposit of nacreous
substance round some nucleus, mostly of foreign origin. The _Meleagrina
margaritifera_, or pearl oyster of the Indian seas, yields the most
numerous and finest specimens.

PECTORAL FINS. The pair situated behind the gills of fishes,
corresponding homologically to the fore limbs of quadrupeds and the
wings of birds.

PEDESTAL-BLOCKS. Synonymous with _plumber-blocks_ (which see).

PEDESTAL-RAIL. A rail about two inches thick, wrought over the
foot-space rail, and in which there is a groove to steady the heel of
the balusters of the galleries.

PEDRO. An early gun of large calibre for t