e_ JETSAM.)

EKE, TO. [Anglo-Saxon _eacan_, to prolong.] To make anything go far by
reduction and moderation, as in shortening the allowance of provisions
on a voyage unexpectedly tedious.

EKEING. A piece of wood fitted, by scarphing or butting, to make good a
deficiency in length, as the end of a knee and the like. The _ekeing_ is
also the carved work under the lower part of the quarter-piece, at the
aft part of the quarter-gallery.

ELBOW. That part of a river where it suddenly changes its direction,
forming a reach to the next angle or turn. Also, a promontory. Also, a
communication in a steam-pipe.

ELBOW-GREASE. Hard labour with the arms.

ELBOW IN THE HAWSE. Two crosses in a hawse. When a ship, being moored in
a tide-way, swings twice the wrong way, thereby causing the cables to
take half a round turn on each other. (_See_ HAWSE.)

ELDEST. The old navy term for _first_, as applied to the senior
lieutenant.

ELEMENTS. The first principles of any art or science.--The _elements of
an orbit_ are certain proportions which define the path of a heavenly
body in space, and enable the astronomer to calculate its position for
past or future times.

ELEPHANTER. A heavy periodical rain of Bombay.

ELEPHANT-FISH. The _Chimaera callorynchus_, named from the proboscis-like
process on its nose. Though inferior to many other fish, it is yet
palatable food.

ELEVATE! In great-gun exercise, the order which prepares for adjusting
the quoin.

ELEVATED POLE. That terrestrial pole which is above the horizon of a
spectator.

ELEVATION, IN SHIP-BUILDING. A vertical and longitudinal view of a
vessel, synonymous with _sheer-draught_ and _sheer-plan_. In other
words, it is the orthographic design whereon the heights and lengths are
expressed.

ELEVATION, ANGLE OF. In gunnery, that which the axis of the bore makes
with the plane of the horizon. It is attained by sinking the breech of
the gun until its axis points above the object to be fired at, so that
the shot may describe a curve somewhat similar to a parabola,
counteracting the action of gravity during its flight, and alighting
upon the mark.

ELGER. An eel-spear, _Promptorium Parvulorum_, yielding many together.

ELIGUGS. Aquatic birds of passage of the auk kind on our western coasts;
called also razor-bills.

ELITE. The elite of naval or military forces is the choicest selection
from them.

ELLECK. The trivial name of the _Trigla cuculus_.

ELLIOT-EYE. The Ell