undergirder

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   historical nautical: a heavy rope or cable used to brace and hold together the hull of an ancient ship, especially a trireme

   Before the reconstructed trireme sailed, the crew tensioned each undergirder to brace its long wooden hull.

Formed from undergird + -er, literally "something that braces from beneath." The historical nautical noun renders Greek hypozoma (plural hypozomata), "an undergirding," from hypozonnymi ("to gird underneath"). Such heavy ropes or cables reinforced a trireme's long hull. Jowett's Republic uses both closed and hyphenated plural spellings.

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