WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Gal"ley
Part of Speech : n.;
Etymology : [OE. gale, galeie (cf. OF. galie, gal?e, LL. galea, LGr.
Definition : 1. (Naut.)

Defn: A vessel propelled by oars, whether having masts and sails or not; as: (a) A large vessel for war and national purposes; -- common in the Middle Ages, and down to the 17th century. (b) A name given by analogy to the Greek, Roman, and other ancient vessels propelled by oars. (c) A light, open boat used on the Thames by customhouse officers, press gangs, and also for pleasure. (d) One of the small boats carried by a man-of-war.

Note: The typical galley of the Mediterranean was from one hundred to two hundred feet long, often having twenty oars on each side. It had two or three masts rigged with lateen sails, carried guns at prow and stern, and a complement of one thousand to twelve hundred men, and was very efficient in mediaeval walfare. Galleons, galliots, galleasses, half galleys, and quarter galleys were all modifications of this type.

2. The cookroom or kitchen and cooking apparatus of a vessel; -- sometimes on merchant vessels called the caboose.

3. (Chem.)

Defn: An oblong oven or muffle with a battery of retorts; a gallery furnace.

4. Etym: [F. gal?e; the same word as E. galley a vessel.] (Print.) (a) An oblong tray of wood or brass, with upright sides, for holding type which has been set, or is to be made up, etc. (b) A proof sheet taken from type while on a galley; a galley proof. Galley slave, a person condemned, often as a punishment for crime, to work at the oar on board a galley. "To toil like a galley slave." Macaulay.-- Galley slice (Print.), a sliding false bottom to a large galley. Knight.

pl. Galleys.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913