Note: There's nothing like a formalist poet questing for an uncommon rhyme to unearth odd vocabulary. This new Word of the Day from a nautical poem.


strake

\Strake\, n. [See Streak.] 1. A streak. [Obs.] --Spenser.``White strake.'' --Gen. xxx. 37.

2. An iron band by which the fellies of a wheel are secured to each other, being not continuous, as the tire is, but made up of separate pieces.

3. (Shipbuilding) One breadth of planks or plates forming a continuous range on the bottom or sides of a vessel, reaching from the stem to the stern; a streak.

Note: The planks or plates next the keel are called the garboard strakes; the next, or the heavy strakes at the bilge, are the bilge strakes; the next, from the water line to the lower port sill, the wales; and the upper parts of the sides, the sheer strakes.

4. (Mining) A trough for washing broken ore, gravel, or sand; a launder.