larboard

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   on or toward the left side of a vessel when facing forward; port

   The canister struck the ironclad's larboard side and glanced out to sea.

2. 2
   noun

   the left side of a vessel when one is facing the bow

   The mate ordered the sailors to move the cargo to larboard.

Simplified etymology

Larboard was the older nautical term for the left side of a ship before port replaced it. Its second element is board, but the origin of its first element is unknown.

From Middle English ladebord or ladde-bord, probably the side on which a ship was loaded. The form was altered under the influence of starboard. Because larboard and starboard sounded dangerously alike at sea, port replaced larboard in standard nautical use during the nineteenth century.

Topics

External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
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