Naut. a. (see quot.)
1767. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1784), Boot-topping, the act of cleaning the upper-part of a ship’s bottom,… and daubing it over … with a coat or mixture of tallow, sulphur, resin, &c.
Boot-topping is chiefly performed where there is no dock … or when the hurry of a voyage renders it inconvenient to have the whole bottom … cleansed.
b. ‘Boot-topping … is now applied to sheathing a vessel with planking over felt.’ Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 1867.
