Gun"wale (?), n. [Gun + wale. So named because the upper guns were pointed from it.] Naut.

The upper edge of a vessel's or boat's side; the uppermost wale of a ship (not including the bulwarks); or that piece of timber which reaches on either side from the quarter-deck to the forecastle, being the uppermost bend, which finishes the upper works of the hull.

[Written also gunnel.]

 

© Webster 1913.

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