tory motion is
converted into a reciprocating motion.

WIPER-SHAFT. An application to the valve equipoise of a marine-engine:
their journals or bearings lie in bushes, which are fixed upon the frame
of the engine.

WIRE-MICROMETER. An instrument necessary for delicate astronomical
measurements. It contains vertical and horizontal wires, or
spider-lines, acting in front of a comb or scale for distances, and on a
graduated circle on the screw-head for positions.

WIRE-ROPE. Rigging made of iron wire galvanized, and laid up like common
cordage.

WISBUY LAWS. A maritime code which, though framed at a town in the now
obscure island of Gothland, in the Baltic, was submissively adopted by
Europe.

WISHES [from the British _usk_, water]. Low lands liable to be
overflowed.

WISHY-WASHY. Any beverage too weak. Over-watered spirits.

"His food the land-crab, lizard, or the frog;
His drink a wish-wash of six-water grog."

WITH. An iron instrument fitted to the end of a boom or mast, with a
ring to it, through which another boom or mast is rigged out and
secured. Also, in mechanics, the elastic withe handles of cold chisels,
set-tools, &c., which prevent a jar to the assistant's wrist.

WITH A WILL. Pull all together.

WITHERSHINS. _See_ WIDDERSHINS.

WITHEYS. Any low places near rivers where willows grow.

WITHIN-BOARD. Inside a ship.

WITHOUT. Outside, as, studding-sail without studding-sail; or, _without
board_, outside a ship.

WITH THE SUN. Ropes coiled from the left hand towards the right; but
where the sun passes the meridian north of the observer, it is of course
the reverse.

WITNESSES, OR TEMOINS, are certain piles of earth left in digging docks,
or other foundations, to judge how many cubic feet of earth have been
removed.

WITTEE-WITTEE. The ingeniously-constructed fish-hook of the Pacific
islanders, made of mother-of-pearl, with hair tufts, serving at once
both as hook and bait.

WOARE. An old term for sea-weed. Also, the shore margin or beach.

WOBBLE, TO. In mechanics, to sway or roll from side to side. (_See_
WABBLE.)

WOLD. An extensive plain, covered with grass and herbs, but bare of
trees.

WOLF. A kind of fishing-net.

WOLF-FISH. _Anarhichas lupus_, also called cat-fish. A fish of the
northern seas, from 2 to 3 feet long, with formidable teeth, with which
it crushes the shells of the crustaceans and mollusks on which it
feeds.

WOLYING. The old way of spelling _woolding_.