a. [SQUARE a. 12.] Of vessels: Having a square stern (see quot. c. 1850).

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1676.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1130/4. St Teresa of Dunkirk, Burthen 20 Tuns,… a square ster’d Sloop with a Deck. Ibid. (1690), No. 2562/4. The Ship Delight, English Built, Square-sterned, 130 Tuns.

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1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), Bastardes, or Batardelles, square-sterned row-gallies.

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1791.  W. Hutchinson, Pract. Seamanship, 27. As square sterned ships … are found to answer all trades and purposes better than round or pink sterned ships.

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c. 1850.  Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 151. Square-sterned, a term applied to ships whose wing transom is at right angles, or nearly at right angles, with the stern-post…. All British ships are now built upon this principle.

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1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 648. Square-Sterned and British Built, a phrase to express the peculiar excellence of our first-class merchantmen.

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