the superior of the first-class working petty officers, and
solely attends to police matters under the master-at-arms or
superintendent-in-chief.

CORPORAL OATH. So called because the witness when he swears lays his
right hand on the holy evangelists, or New Testament.

CORPOSANT. [_Corpo santo_, Ital.] _See_ COMPASANT.

CORPS. Any body of troops acting under one commander.

CORPSE. Jack's term for the party of marines embarked; the corps.

CORRECTIONS. Reductions of observations of the sun, moon, or stars.

CORRIDOR. _See_ COVERT-WAY.

CORRYNE POWDER. Corn-powder, a fine kind of gunpowder.

CORSAIR. A name commonly given to the piratical cruisers of Barbary, who
frequently plundered the merchant ships indiscriminately.

CORSELET. The old name for a piece of armour used to cover the body of a
fighting-man.

CORTEGE. The official staff, civil or military.

CORUSCATIONS. Atmospheric flashes of light, as in auroras.

CORVETTES. Flush-decked ships, equipped with one tier of guns: fine
vessels for warm climates, from admitting a free circulation of air. The
Bermuda-built corvettes were deemed superior vessels, swift, weatherly,
"lie to" well, and carry sail in a stiff breeze. The cedar of which they
are chiefly built is very buoyant, but also brittle.

CORVORANT. An old mode of spelling _cormorant_.

COSIER. A lubber, a botcher, a tailoring fellow [_coser_, Sp. to sew?]

COSMICAL RISING AND SETTING OF THE HEAVENLY BODIES. Their rising and
setting with the sun.

COSMOGRAPHER. Formerly applied to "too clever by half." Now, one who
describes the world or universe in all its parts.

COSS. A measure of distance in India, varying in different districts
from one mile and a half to two miles.

COSTAL. Relating to the coast.

COSTEIE. An old English word for going by the coast.

COSTERA. A law archaism for the sea-coast.

COSTS AND DAMAGE. Demurrage is generally given against a captor for
unjustifiable detention. Where English merchants provoke expense by
using false papers, the court decrees the captors their expenses on
restitution. (_See_ EXPENSES.)

COT. A wooden bed-frame suspended from the beams of a ship for the
officers, between decks. It is inclosed in canvas, sewed in the form of
a chest, about 6 feet long, 1 foot deep, and 2 or 3 feet wide, in which
the mattress is laid.

COTT. An old term for a little boat.

COTTON, GUN. _See_ GUN-COTTON.

COTTONINA. The thick sail-cloth of the Levant.

CO