channel walen.
/ˈtʃanl weɪl/, U.S. /ˈtʃæn(ə)l ˌweɪl/ Nautical. Now chiefly historical.
A strake (strake n.1 3a) of thick planks, placed as a reinforcement between the middle- and upper-deck ports in a sailing ship having three decks, and the gun- and upper-deck ports in one having two decks, into which the bolts for the chainplates and preventer plates are fixed. Cf. main-wale n. at main adj.2 Compounds 2.In quot. 1672 perhaps: = channel n.2
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > body of vessel > [noun] > timbers of hull > horizontal timber(s)
wale1295
bend1626
channel wale1672
main-walea1750
in-wale1875
1672 J. Narbrough Jrnl. 2 May in R. C. Anderson Jrnls. & Narr. Third Dutch War (1946) (modernized text) 81 The Victory came running up on our larboard side and gave us a rub on our fore channel-wale.
1711 W. Sutherland Ship-builders Assistant 37 There are Plates of Iron, called Chain-plates, fixed to the Channel-wales, and dead Eyes bound by those Plates, wherein the Lanyards of the Shrouds are reev'd, and spread by the Channels.
1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine They are usually distinguished into the main-wale and the channel-wale.
1821 J. Fincham Introd. Outl. Pract. Ship-Building 45 The lower edge of the channel wale is placed two inches..above the upper part of the ports at midships.
1861 Rep. Secretary Navy 45 Put on..six forehoods on each side of the channel wales.
1967 Mariner's Mirror 53 257 The old-fashioned heavy lower wales and channel wales, separated by comparatively thin planking, was being replaced in merchant vessels by a wider belt of lower wales.
1990 N. Blake & R. Lawrence Illus. Compan. to Nelson's Navy 123/1 The first strake up from the main wale was the thick stuff, typically 6¾in thick; from there strakes diminished in steps, 5¾in, 4in, and 3in above the upper or channel wale.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1672