nautical

From Middle French nautique (“of or relating to sailors or navigation”) or its etymon, Classical Latin nauticus (“of or relating to ships, seafaring”), +‎ -al (adjectival suffix).^[1][2] Nauticus is from Ancient Greek ναυτικός (nautikós), from ναύτης (naútēs, “sailor”) +‎ -ικός (-ikós, adjecival suffix).^[2] Compare later nautic.^[1] With use as noun compare Classical Latin nauticus (“sailor”).^[1]

• enPR: nô′tĭ-kəl
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈnɔːtɪ.kəl/, [ˈnɔ̝ːtɪ.kl̩] ~ [ˈno̞ːtɪ.kl̩]
• (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /ˈnoː.tɪ.kəl/, [ˈnoː.tɪ.kl̩]
• (US)
  • (without the cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈnɔ.tɪ.kəl/, [ˈnɔ.ɾɪ.kl̩]
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈnɑ.tɪ.kəl/, [ˈnɑ.ɾɪ.kl̩]

  • Audio (US):

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• (Australia) IPA^(key): /ˈnoːtɪ.kəl/, [ˈno̝ːɾɪ.kl̩]
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈnoːtə.kəl/, [ˈno̝ːɾə.kl̩]
• Hyphenation: nau‧ti‧cal

nautical (not generally comparable, comparative more nautical, superlative most nautical, abbreviation naut.)

2. Of, relating to, or characteristic of sailing, sailors, or the sea.

   Synonym: (chiefly poetic and literary, now rare) nautic

   Near-synonyms: marine, maritime, naval, seafaring

   I was mostly unfamiliar with the nautical terms used in the sailing documentary.

   • 1831 July 30, Vyvyan [pseudonym], “The Topographer. Travelling Notes in South Wales.”, in The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction: […], volume XVIII, number 501, London: […] J[ohn] Limbird, […], →OCLC, page 70, column 2:

     The occurrence to which we allude—fraught as our shores are with recollection of nautical disaster—is one which must powerfully impress even the most unreflecting mind.

   • 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “In Which Some More First Appearances Are Made on the Stage of These Adventures”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 24:

     Anywhere in the immediate vicinity there might be seen […] little timber midshipmen in obsolete naval uniforms, eternally employed outside the shopdoors of nautical instrument-makers in taking observations of the hackney coaches.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Mast-Head”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 173:

     In front is a leather rack, in which to keep your speaking trumpet, pipe, telescope, and other nautical conveniences.

   • 1887, Mrs. Dominic D[aniel] Daly [i.e., Harriet Douglas Daly], “1870”, in Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, […], →OCLC, page 16:

     The mainsail was "scandalised"—a nautical mode of describing a sail reefed at both ends; […]

   • 1920 August, C[arl] H[arry] Claudy, “Dinky—A Prose Poem”, in J. Harry Lewis, editor, The Crescent, volume 11, number 6, Saint Paul, Minn.: Crescent Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 152:

     However, Dinky did beautifully while I was being demonstrated to, and when he had made a skillful landing and getaway I turned her prow (that sounds much more nautical than bow, and much bigger, too, don’t you think?) towards the upper reaches (more nauticalness, d’y see?) of the river and chugged grandly away from that landing.

   • 1994 October 16, Arthur Z. Kamin, “Circle Line Has a New Port of Departure: Hoboken”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 May 2015:

     Mr. [Mark] Davidoff said Hoboken was always considered Circle Line's most desirable location. Now, his every nautical step is being watched closely and could be countered by at least two competitors who are also searching for a larger share of sightseers, who can reach the Hoboken terminal by riding one of eight New Jersey Transit commuter lines, PATH, the Hoboken ferry and local bus routes.

   • 2009 January 23, Danny Leigh, “The view: Why cinema still owes Edgar Allan Poe”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎^[2], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 October 2021:

     [I]t [The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket]'s one of the few of Poe's substantial works that remains unfilmed. Doubly weird considering that for any number of reasons, it should have made a great movie – his sole completed novel, as such suitable for adaptation both in length and potential spectacle as it prefaced every nautical travail since (Moby Dick included).

nautical (plural nauticals)

1. (now archaic and rare) A nautical person or writer; a sailor.

   Synonym: (colloquial) nautic

   • 1831, canto I, in Paul Heidiger, editor, The Didoniad, a Semi-Virgilian Nautic Epic, […], Edinburgh: Henry Constable, […]; London: Hurst, Chance, and Co., →OCLC, page 30:

     Then comes the formal pompous introduction / Of Slowjohn’s cabin-staff, état major, / Which argued attitudial instruction / Beyond belief, in nauticals ashore.

   • 1831 August 16, correspondent, “The Yacht Clubs”, in The Times, number 20,883, London: […] John Joseph Lawson, […], published 18 August 1831, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 7, column 1:

     [T]he waves appeared to fall away under her keel and sides, offering the minimum of resistance to her course, owing to the peculiar form of her “entry.” Still, the nauticals looked knowing, and said, “Oh ay, this is all very well for a schooner on this wind—let us see how she’ll come back, when the wind will be a point or so worse for her!”

   • 1840, Thomas Ingoldsby [pseudonym; Richard Barham], “Mr. Peters’s Story. […] The Bagman’s Dog”, in Bentley’s Miscellany, London: Richard Bentley, […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 284:

     But, Reader, I scorn it—the fact is, I fear, / To be candid, I can’t make these matters so clear / As Marryat, or Cooper, or Captain Chamier, / Or Sir E. Lytton Bulwer, who brought up the rear / Of the “Nauticals,” just at the end of last year, / With a well-written preface, to make it appear / That his play, the Sea-Captain, ’s by no means Small beer;—[…]

   • 1985, Jonathan Gash [pseudonym; John Grant], chapter 4, in Pearlhanger (A Lovejoy Novel of Suspense), New York, N.Y.: A Joan Kahn book, St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 33:

     [F]rom there you can see the small boats moving in the harbor. I wanted no sudden nauticals swaggering unexpectedly round the old bollards while I was engaged in psychic exploration.

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