Mooring bollard
A bollard is a sturdy, short, vertical post on a ship or quay used principally for mooring boats.[1]
Etymology
[edit]The term is probably related to bole, meaning a tree trunk.[2][3][4] The earliest citation given by the Oxford English Dictionary (referring to a maritime bollard) dates from 1844,[2] although an account describing bollards as "huge posts" in a shipyard is also known from 1817.[5]
Maritime use
[edit]In maritime contexts, a bollard is either a wooden or iron post found as a deck-fitting on a ship or boat, and used to secure ropes for towing, mooring and other purposes; or its counterpart on land, a short wooden, iron, or stone post on a quayside to which craft can be moored. The Sailor's Word-Book of 1867 defines a bollard in a more specific context as "a thick piece of wood on the head of a whale-boat, round which the harpooner gives the line a turn, in order to veer it steadily, and check the animal's velocity".[2][6] Bollards on ships, when arranged in pairs, may also be referred to as "bitts".[7][8]
Gallery
[edit]- Different bollards
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Old cannon used as a mooring bollard, near the entrance of the Grand Harbour, Malta -
Mooring bollard, Lyme Regis -
Mooring bollards at Lepe Beach, Hampshire, England, installed in 1944 for the use of craft destined to take part in the D-Day landings
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Definition of BOLLARD". www.merriam-webster.com. 4 July 2025. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
- ^ a b c "bollard". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 1993
- ^ "Online Etymology Dictionary". Etymonline.com. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
- ^ "Extraordinary experiment". Bristol Mirror. 5 July 1817. p. 3.
although the machinery was in every respect most powerful, and more than sufficient to effect the purpose, yet the ground (newly made) in which the bollards (huge posts) were fixed, was shaken by the tremendous strain, and during the operation it was much feared that it would give way before the ship could be got up.
- ^ Chris Roberts, Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind Rhyme, Thorndike Press, 2006 (ISBN 0-7862-8517-6)
- ^ "bitt". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ Herwadkar, Nihar (5 March 2019). "10 ship terms and definitions even smart people misuse". Marine Insight. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
External links
[edit]
The dictionary definition of bollard at Wiktionary
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