hawse Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the hole that an anchor rope passes through
    hawsepipe; hawsehole.

WordNet

Hawse noun
Etymology
Orig. a hawse hole, or hole in the ship; cf. Icel. hals, hals, neck, part of the bows of a ship, AS. heals neck. See Collar, and cf. Halse to embrace.
Definitions
  1. A hawse hole. Harris.
  2. (Naut.) (a) The situation of the cables when a vessel is moored with two anchors, one on the starboard, the other on the port bow. (b) The distance ahead to which the cables usually extend; as, the ship has a clear or open hawse, or a foul hawse; to anchor in our hawse, or athwart hawse. (c) That part of a vessel's bow in which are the hawse holes for the cables.

Webster 1913