Hawse

(hauz.) [From A.S. hals, the neck.] (Naut.) The part of the bows of a ship close to the cable-tier. When the ship has two anchors down, and the cables diverge, the H. is said to be clear; when they are intersected by the ve el's turning half round, there is a cro in the H.; another cro makes an elbow; and another, a round turn; and, in the latter two cases, the H. is foul. Disengaging the cables is called clearing the H.-Freshening H. means paying out a little cable so as to present a new surface to the friction in the hawsehole, or acro the cutwater.-Athwart H. signifies acro the bows of a ship lying at moorings. [s. 443]