, in naval
architecture, the mean centre of that part of the vessel which is
immersed in the water. (_See_ CENTRE OF CAVITY.)

BUOYANT. The property of floating lightly on the water.

BUOY-ROPE. The rope which attaches the buoy to the anchor, which should
always be of sufficient strength to lift the anchor should the cable
part; it should also be little more in length than equal to the depth of
the water (at high-water) where the anchor lies.--_To bend the
buoy-rope_, pass the running eye over one fluke, take a hitch over the
other arm, and seize. Or, take a clove-hitch over the crown on each arm
or fluke, stopping the end to its own part, or to the shank.

BUOY-ROPE KNOT. Used where the end is lashed to the shank. A knot made
by unlaying the strands of a cable-laid rope, and also the small strand
of each large strand; and after single and double walling them, as for a
stopper-knot, worm the divisions, and round the rope.

BURBOT. A fresh-water fish (_Molva lota_) in esteem with fishermen.

BURDEN. Is the quantity of contents or number of tons weight of goods or
munitions which a ship will carry, when loaded to a proper sea-trim: and
this is ascertained by certain fixed rules of measurement. The precise
burden or burthen is about twice the tonnage, but then a vessel would be
deemed deeply laden.

BURG [the Anglo-Saxon _burh_]. A word connected with fortification in
German, as in almost all the Teutonic languages of Europe. In Arabic the
same term, with the alteration of a letter, _burj_, signifies primarily
a bastion, and by extension any fortified place on a rising ground. This
meaning has been retained by all northern nations who have borrowed the
word; and we, with the rest, name our towns, once fortified, burghs or
boroughs.

BURGALL. A fish of the American coasts, from 6 to 12 inches long: it is
also called the blue-perch, the chogset, and the nibbler--the last from
its habit of nibbling off the bait thrown for other fishes.

BURGEE. A swallow-tailed or tapered broad pendant; in the merchant
service it generally has the ship's name on it.

BURGOMASTER. In the Arctic Sea, a large species of gull (_Larus
glaucus_).

BURGONET. A steel head-piece, or kind of helmet. Shakspeare makes
Cleopatra, alluding to Antony, exclaim--

"The demi-Atlas of this earth, the arm
And burgonet of men."

In the second part of "Henry VI." Clifford threatens Warwick--

"And from thy burgonet I'll rend thy bear,