GOR 



&OR 



tual execution of their offices; or of inferior 

 officers of justice, as constables, &c. be- 

 ing 1 in the actual execution of their office ; 

 but it seems that rash, quarrelsome, or 

 unmannerly words, spoken by one private 

 person to another, unless they directly 

 tend to a breach of the peace, are not 

 sufficient cause to bind a man to his good 

 behaviour. 



GOOGINGS, in naval affairs, certain 

 clamps of iron or other metal, bolted on 

 the stern post, on which to hang the 

 rudder ; for this purpose there is a hole 

 in each of them to receive a correspon- 

 dent spindle, bolted on the back of the 

 rudder, which turns thereby as on hinges. 

 There are several googings on a ship's 

 posts and rudder, according to her size, 

 and on these the rudder is supported and 

 traverses. 



GOOLE, in law books, signifies a 

 breacn in a sea-bank, or wall. 



GOOSE. See ANAS. 



GOOSE berry. See RIBES. 



GOOSE neck, in a ship, a piece of iron 

 fixed on the end of the tiller, to which 

 the laniard of the whip-staff, or the wheel 

 rope, comes, for steering the ship. 



GOOSE icing, in the sea language. When 

 a ship sails before, or with a quarter 

 wind on a fresh gale, to make the more 

 haste, they launch out a boom, and sail on 

 the lee-side ; and a sail so fitted is called 

 a goose-wing. 



GORDIUS, in natural history, hair- 

 toorm, a genus of the Vermes Intestina 

 class and order. Body round, filiform, 

 equal, smooth. There are five species. 

 G. aojuaticus is from four to six inches 

 long, of a pale brown colour, bnt dai-ker 

 at the extremities : it is found in stagnant 

 waters, and twists itself into various con- 

 tortions and knots, and it is said that, if it 

 is handled without caution, it will inflict 

 a bite that occasions the whitlow. A worm 

 analagous to this species is often found 

 in many parts of the United States, and 

 from its great resemblance to a hair 

 plucked from the tail of a horse, many 

 ignorant persons have entertained the 

 absurd notion of its being no other than 

 a horse hair, reorganized and animated 

 into a complete and separate animal. G 

 filum is found in the bark of old wooden 

 water-pipes. G. lacteus is white and 

 opaque ; found in stagnant waters ; when 

 touched it contracts itself in a moment, 

 and afterwards expands as suddenly. 



GORDONIA, in botany, loblolly bay, so 

 Called from Mr. James Gordon, an emi- 

 nent nursery man, a genus of the Mona- 



delphia Polyandria class and order. Na- 

 tural order of Columniferx. Malvaceae, 

 Jussieu. Essential character : calyx five- 

 leaved ; petals five, united at the base by 

 means of the nectary ; filament inserted 

 into the nectary ; capsule superior, five- 

 celled ; seeds winged. There are three 

 species. There are two American spe- 

 cies. 



GORE, in heraldry, one of the abate- 

 ments, which, according to Guillim, de- 

 notes a coward. It is a figure consisting 

 of two arch lines drawn one from the si- 

 nister chief, and the other from the sinis- 

 ter base, both meeting in an acute angle 

 in the middle of the fess point. 



GOREING, in the sea-language, slop- 

 ing. A sail is cut goreing, when it is cut 

 sloping by degrees, and is broader at the 

 clue than at the earing, as all top-sails 

 and top-gallant sails are. 



GOUGE, in fortification, the entrance 

 of the platform of any work. 



GORGED, in heraldry, the bearing of a 

 crown, coronet, or the like, about the 

 neck of a lion, a swan, &c, and in that 

 case it is said, the lion or cygnet is gorg- 

 ed with a ducal coronet, &c. Gorged is 

 also used when the gorge, or neck of a 

 peacock, swan, or the like bird, is of a 

 different colour or metal from the rest. 



GORGONIA, in natural history, a ge- 

 nus of the Vermes Zoophyta class and 

 order. Animal growing in the form of 

 a plant ; stem coriaceous, corky, woody, 

 horny, or bony, composed of glassy fi- 

 bres, or, like stone, striate, tapering, di- 

 lated at the base, covered with a vascu- 

 lar or cellular flesh or bark, and becom- 

 ing spongy and friable when dry ; mouths 

 or florets covering the surface of the stem 

 and polype bearing. There are about 

 forty species, of which the following 

 are found in the Eurupean seas, viz. 

 G. placomus ; branching both ways, with 

 flexuous, rarely anastomosing branches, 

 covered with conic florets. The stem is 

 erect, the branches flattish, bending to- 

 wards each other : florets surrounded at 

 the top with small spines. G. Anceps ; 

 slightly branched, with compressed stem 

 and branches, each with rows of florets 

 along both margins. It inhabits the 

 American and British coasts ; nearly two 

 feet high ; flesh calcareous ; bone of 

 horny leathery texture ; when recent, of 

 a fine violet colour, but when dry, yel- 

 lowish or white. G. flabellum, Venus's 

 fan ; reticulate, with the branches com- 

 pressed on the inner side ; bark yellow or 

 purplish j bone black and horny. It inha. 



