on the upper side, and counter-sunk
below, with the upper side polished to prevent the adhesion of weeds.

SHEAVE. The wheel on which the rope works in a block; it is generally
formed of lignum vitae, sometimes of brass, and frequently of both; the
interior part, or that which sustains the friction against the pin,
being of brass, let into the exterior, which is of lignum vitae, and is
then termed a sheave with a brass coak, _bouche_, or bush. The name also
applies to a cylindrical wheel made of hard wood, movable round a stout
pin as its axis; it is let through the side and chess-trees for leading
the tacks and sheets. Also, the number of tiers in coiling cables and
hawsers.

SHEAVE-HOLE. A channel cut in masts, yards, or timber, in which to fix a
sheave, and answering the place of a block. It is also the groove cut in
a block for the ropes to reeve through.

SHEBEEN. A low public-house, yet a sort of sailor trap.

SHED. A pent-house or cover for the ship's artificers to work under.

SHEDDE. An archaic term for the slope of a hill.

SHEDDERS. Female salmon. (_See_ FOUL FISH.)

SHEDELE. A channel of water.

SHEEN-NET. A large drag-net.

SHEEPSHANK. A hitch or bend made on a rope to shorten it temporarily;
and particularly used on runners, to prevent the tackle from coming
block and block. It consists in making two long bights in a rope, which
shall overlay one another; then taking a half hitch over the end of each
bight, with the standing part, which is next to it.

SHEER. The longitudinal curve of a ship's decks or sides; the hanging of
the vessel's side in a fore-and-aft direction. Also, a fishing-spear in
use on the south coast. (_See_ SHEAR.) Also, the position in which a
ship is sometimes kept when at single anchor, in order to keep her clear
of it [evidently from the Erse _sheebh_, to drift].

SHEER, TO BREAK. To deviate from that position, and thereby risk fouling
the anchor. Thus a vessel riding with short scope of cable breaks her
sheer, and bringing the force of the whole length of the ship at right
angles, tears the anchor out of the ground, and drifts into deep water.

SHEER-BATTEN. A batten stretched horizontally along the shrouds, and
seized firmly above each of their dead-eyes, serving to prevent the
dead-eyes from turning at that part. This is also termed a _stretcher_.

SHEER-DRAUGHT. In ship-building, a section supposed to be cut by a plane
passing through the middle line of the keel, the