B O B 
•«ei, in a faint curve towards the water, fo as not to inter¬ 
rupt the oars in rowing; and, from the extreme projection 
which may be greater or let's, according to the fize and life 
the boat or velfel is intended for, returning to the fide in 
a faint curve, at a proper diftance above the water-line. 
Thefe projecting gunnels may be made folid, of any light 
materials that, will repel the water, or hollow and water¬ 
tight, or of cork, and covered with thin wood, canvas, 
leather, tin, or any other light metal, mixture, or compo- 
fiiion. Thefe projections arc very fmall at the Hem and 
Hern,' and incieafe gradually to the dimenfions required ; 
they will effectually prevent the boat or velfel from being 
overfet by Hidden fqualls, or violent gales of wind, either 
in failing or rowing, or by imprudent or unfkilful manage¬ 
ment. , In the inlide at the Hem and the Hern, and at the 
tides, where the projecting gunnels are not neceifary, and 
under the feats and thwarts, are inclofures, or bulk-heads, 
made water-tight, or filled with cork, or other light ma¬ 
terials, that will repel the water : the fpaces between the 
timbers may in like manner be filled up. By this means 
the boat or velfel will be fo much lighter than the body 
of water it mult difplace in linking, that it will with lafety 
carry more than its common burthen, though the remain¬ 
ing fpace fiiould by any accident be filled with water. 
Under the bottom, along the centre of the keel, is affixed 
a falfeone of cart iron, or other metal; this will Hrengthen 
and proteCl the bottom from injury, in many cafes; and, 
by being placed fo much below the furface of the water, 
will aft as ballafi with more power than a much greater 
weight in the common fituation, and is much more late, 
by being fixed in the proper place, and not liable to fiiift 
by any Hidden motion of the boat or veffel. 
BOAT-BILL, J '. in ornithology. See Cancroma. 
BOAT-INSECT,^ in entomology. See Notonecta. 
BOAT'ING, f. A horrid punifinnent ufed among the 
ancient Perfians for capital offenders- The manner of 
boating was thus: the perfon condemned being laid on his 
back in a boat, and having his hands ffretched out, and 
tied fafi on each fide, had another boat put over him, his 
head being left out through a place fitted for it. In this 
pofiure they fed him, till the worms, which were bred in 
the excrements he voided as he thus lay, gradually de- 
ffroyed him. 
BOA'TION, f. [from boon, Lat.] Roar; noife; loud 
found.—In Medina infurreftion, the guns were heard 
from thence as far as Augufia and Syracufe, about an hun¬ 
dred Italian miles, in loud boations. Derham. 
BOAT ISLAND, a fmall iiland, in the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence, near the fonth coaft of Labrador. Lat. 50. 2. 
N. Ion. 60. 55. W. Greenwich. 
BOAT'MAN, or Boatsman,/. [from boat and man.] 
He that manages a boat; 
That booby Phaon only was unkind, 
An ill-bred boatman , rough as waves and wind. Prior. 
BOAT'SWAIN, the officer who has the boats, fails, 
rigging, colours, anchors, and cables, committed to his 
charge. It is the duty of the boatfwain particularly to 
direft whatever relates to the rigging of a Hiip, after flic 
is equipped from a royal dock-yard. It is likewife his 
office to fummon the crew to their duty ; to affiff with his 
mates in the neceifary bufinefs of tlye Hiip ; and to relieve 
the watch when it expires. He ought frequently to ex¬ 
amine the condition of the malts, fails, and rigging; and 
remove whatever may be judged unfit for ferviee, or fup. 
ply what is deficient. The bdatfwain’s mate has the pe¬ 
culiar command of the long-boat, for the fetting forth of 
anchors, weighing or fetching home an anchor, warping, 
towing, or mooring; and is to give an account of his 
ffores. 
To BOB, v. a. [of uncertain etymology : Skinner de¬ 
duces it from bobo, fooliffi, Span.] To cut. junius. Whence 
bobtail. To beat; to drub ; to bang : 
Thole baftard Britons, whom our fathers 
Have in their own land beaten, bobb’d, and thump’d. Shak . 
ypL, III. No. i2i. 
BOB i 37 
To cheat; to gain by fraud. — Here we have been worry¬ 
ing one another, who (Ijould have tlie booty, till this curled 
fox has bobb'd us both on’t. DEflrange. 
To BOB, v. n. To play backward and forward ; to 
play loofely again ft any thing : 
They comb, and then they order ev’ry hair ; 
A birth-day jewel bobbing at their ear. Drydcn. 
BOB,_/l Something that hangs fo as to play loofely ; ge¬ 
nerally an ornament at the ear; a pendant; an ear-ring : 
The gaudy goffip, when file’s fet agog, 
In jewels dreft, and at each ear a bob. Drydcn. 
The words repeated at the end of a fta'nza.—To bed, to 
bed, will be the bob of the fong. L'EJlrange. —The ball at 
the end of a pendulum. A blow.—J am Iharplv taunted, 
yea fometimes with pinches, nips, and bobs. Afcbam. —A 
mode of ringing. 
BO'B AN, a town of Arabia : thirty-tw o miles fouth of 
Saade. 
BO'B ART (Jacob), a German, whom Dr. Plot calls 
an excellent gardener and botanift, was, by the earl of 
Danby, founder of the phyfic garden at Oxford, appointed 
the firft keeper of it. He was author of Catalogus Plan- 
tarum Horti Medici Oxonienlis, fcil. Latino-Anglicus et 
Anglico-Latinus, Ox. 1648, 8vo. Died Feb. 1679, aged 
eighty-one. 
BOBAR'TIA, f. in botany. See Mor^a and Rud- 
beckia. 
BOB'BIN, f. \_bobinc, Fr. from bombyx, Lat.] A fmall 
pin of wood, with a notch, to wind the thread about when 
women weave lace.—The things you follow', and make 
fongs on now, fiiould be fent to knit, or fit down to bobbins, 
or bonelace. Taller. 
BOB'BIN-WORK, / [from bobbin and work.} Work 
woven with bobbins.—Not netted nor woven with warp 
and woof, but after the manner of bobbin-work. Grew. 
BOB'BING, among fifliermen, a particular manner of 
catching eels, which is thus performed : they fcour well 
fome large worms, and, with a needle, run a twilled lilk 
through them.from end to end, taking fo many as that 
they may wrap them about a board a dozen times at leaft : 
then they tie them fait with the twm ends of the filk, that 
they may hang in fo many hanks ; which done, they fafteiv 
all to a ftrong cord, and, about fix inches above the worms, 
they fix a plummet three-quarters of a pound weight, and 
make the cord fafi to a ftrong pole. With this apparatus, 
fifiiing in muddy water, they feel the eels tug the bait ; 
and, when they think they have fwallowed it fufficieiitly, 
they gently draw up the rope to the top, and bring them 
alhqre. 
BOB'BIO, a town of Italy, and capital of a diftrift, in 
the Pavefe, lituated on the Trebia, the fee of a bifliop, 
fuffragan of Genoa: twenty-four miles fouth-fouth-eaft 
of Pavia, and thirty north-eaft of Genoa. 
BOB'CHERRY, f. [from bob and cherry .] A play 
among children, in which the cherry is hung fo as to bob 
againft the mouth.— Bobcherry teaches at once two noble 
virtues, patience and conftancy ; the firft, in adhering to 
the purfuit of one end ; the latter, in bearing a difappoint- 
ment. Arbuthnot. 
BO'BENHAUSEN, a town of Germany, in the circle- 
of the Upper Rhine, and principality of Upper Helle > 
feventeen miles eaft of Giefen. 
BOBENNEUKIR'CHEN, a town of Germany, in 
the circle of Upper Saxony, and the Vogtland : fix miles 
fouth-weft of Oelfnitz. 
BO'BER, a river which runs into the Oder, a little to 
the welt of Groffen, in Silefia. 
BO'BKRSBERG, a town of Germany, in the circle of. 
Upper Saxony, and duchy pf Croffen : lix miles louth of 
Croffen. 
BO'BERSBERG, a town of Silefia« nine miles fouth- 
feuth-weft of Croffep, and twenty-eight fouth of Francfort 
on the Oder. 
N n BOBRo 
