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Webster 1913 Edition
Gunwale
Gun′wale
,Noun.
[
Gun
+ wale
. So named because the upper guns were pointed from it.] (Naut.)
The upper edge of a vessel’s or boat's side; the uppermost wale of a ship (not including the bulwarks); or that piece of timber which reaches on either side from the quarter-deck to the forecastle, being the uppermost bend, which finishes the upper works of the hull.
[Written also
gunnel
.]