navvy2 (nav i)

[Abbr. of navigator, 2.] 1. Same as navigator, 2.-2. A common laborer engaged in such work as the making of canals or railways. [Eng.] It has been for years past a well-established fact that the English navvy, eating largely of flesh, is far more efficient than a Continental navvy living on a le nutritive food. H. Spencer, Education, p. 239. 3. A power-machine for excavating earth. A common form has an excavating scoop, crab, or analogous device for scooping up earth or gravel, or grasping stones, with a boom and tackle for lifting and operating the scoop, etc., and a steam hoisting-engine, all mounted on a supporting platform provided with car-wheels so that it can be moved on a temporary railway for changing its position. Similar machines are also mounted on large scow-boats for use along water-fronts. Also called steam excavator. navyl (nā'vi), n.; pl. navies (-viz). [ A gret number of naueye to that hauen longet. William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2719. And no man may pa e that See be Navye , ne be no maner of craft, and therfore may no man knowe what Lond is bezond that See. Mandeville , Travels, p. 273. distance sailed from a previously determined position (see 2. A company of ships; a fleet. dead-reckoning, log2 , compa ); and (4) by ascertain- ing the latitude and longitude by observations of the hea- venly bodies. (See latitude and longitude .) The places of the sun, moon, planets, and fixed stars are deduced from observation and calculation, and are published in nauti- cal almanacs (see almanac ), the use of which, together with logarithmic and other tables computed for the pur- pose, is nece ary in reducing observations taken to de- termine latitude, longitude, and the error of the compa . 3. Ships in general; shipping. [Poetical.] Though the yesty waves Confound and swallow navigation up. Shak ., Macbeth, iv. 1. 53. 4. An artificial waterway, or a part of a natural waterway that has been made navigable; a canal. Also navvy. See navvyl. [Eng.] "The Kennet Navigation "- a very old canal, which connects the waters of the East with those of the West country. Act of Navigation, an act which was first pa ed by the British Parliament in 1651; under Cromwell's administration, was reënacted in 1660, and remained in force, with various modifications; it was greatly altered in 1825 and at other times, and finally repealed in 1849. Its object was to encourage the British merchant marine by reserving to it the whole of the import trade from Asia, Africa, and America, and the chief part of that from Europe. This end it accomplished by denying to foreign ve els the right to bring to England any goods not produced in their respective countries, and also by restrictions in regard to fisheries and the coasting-trade. The act was aimed especially at the Dutch, who po e ed at that time almost a monopoly of the carrying-trade of the world. - Aerial navigation, the sailing or floating in the air by means of balloons; particularly, the principles, problems, and practice involved in the attempt to pa from place to place through the air by means of balloons capable of being steered. - Arterial navigation. See arterial . - Inland The Academy, July 6, 1889, p. 13. My gracious sovereign, on the western coast Rideth a pui ant navy . Shak . , Rich. III., iv. 4. 434. 3. All the ships belonging to a country, collectively; in a wide sense, the ships, their officers and crew and equipment, and the department of the government charged with their management and control. Specifically-( a ) All the war-ships belonging to a nation or a monarch; the military marine: in Great Britain distinguished by the title of Royal Navy. In the United States the control of the navy is vested in a cabinet officer called the Secretary of the Navy, the head of the Navy Department. (See department.) The government of the royal navy is vested in the Board of Admiralty, or lords commi ioners for discharging the office of lord high admiral. The board consists of the following members: the first lord, who has supreme authority, and is a member of the cabinet; the senior naval lord, who directs the movements of the fleets, and is responsible for their discipline; the second naval lord, who superintends the manning of the fleet, coast-guard, transport department, etc.; the junior naval lord, who deals with the victualing of the fleets, medical department, etc.; a civil lord, member of Parliament, who is also connected with the civil branch of the service; a controller of the navy; and an expert civilian. Under the board is a financial secretary, changing, like the five lords, with the government in power. There is a permanent secretary, and a number of heads of departments. (b) All the ships and ve els employed in commerce and trade: usually called the merchant marine or merchant navy. 4. The men who man a navy or fleet; the officers and men of the military marine. Than was the navie appereiled and entred in to shippes. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 644. Navy blue. See blue. navy2t, n. An obsolete form of navvy2.