FRIGATES
Noun
frigates
plural of frigate
Anagrams
• Freitags
Source: Wiktionary
FRIGATE
Frig"ate, n. Etym: [F. frégate, It. fregata, prob. contracted fr. L.
fabricata something constructed or. built. See Fabricate.]
1. Originally, a vessel of the Mediterranean propelled by sails and
by oars. The French, about 1650, transferred the name to larger
vessels, and by 1750 it had been appropriated for a class of war
vessels intermediate between corvettes and ships of the line.
Frigates, from about 1750 to 1850, had one full battery deck and,
often, a spar deck with a lighter battery. They carried sometimes as
many as fifty guns. After the application of steam to navigation
steam frigates of largely increased size and power were built, and
formed the main part of the navies of the world till about 1870, when
the introduction of ironclads superseded them. [Formerly spelled
frigat and friggot.]
2. Any small vessel on the water. [Obs.] Spenser. Frigate bird
(Zoöl.), a web-footed rapacious bird, of the genus Fregata; -- called
also man-of-war bird, and frigate pelican. Two species are known;
that of the Southern United States and West Indies is F. aquila. They
are remarkable for their long wings and powerful flight. Their food
consists of fish which they obtain by robbing gulls, terns, and other
birds, of their prey. They are related to the pelicans.
– Frigate mackerel (Zoöl.), an oceanic fish (Auxis Rochei) of
little or no value as food, often very abundant off the coast of the
United States.
– Frigate pelican. (Zoöl.) Same as Frigate bird.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition