Naut. [Etymology unknown. Du. bogt, bocht ‘bend’ of rope, has been suggested. Falconer Dict. Marine, thought it ‘probably a corruption of bracket.’]
A simple contrivance, usually a loop of rope with a knot on one end and eye at the other, but also a large hook, or a wooden bracket, used for confining loose ropes, tackle, ropes, oars, spars, etc., in a convenient place, and also for holding or securing the tacks and sheets of sails, and for similar purposes.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Beckets are either large hooks, or short pieces of rope, with a knot on one end and an eye in the other, or formed like a circular wreath; or they are wooden brackets.
1830. Marryat, King’s Own, xxx. A pistol stuck … in a becket at the side of the boat.
c. 1860. H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 45. Bunt beckets are sewn on the after part of the sail.
