Dictionary

nauticalness en · NOUN

Etymology

From nautical + -ness.

Meanings

1. (rare, uncountable, usually) The quality of being nautical.
   • THE sailors’ inn of popular fancy is—as fanciful things have, fortunately perhaps, so often a way of being—very far removed from the sailors’ inn of sober actuality. It is, to begin with, of an incredible, nay, an impossible, nauticalness; so that, should a landsman venture his nose within it, he might almost be excused for feeling a little seasick. 1925, C[icely] Fox Smith, “Sailos’ Inns”, in Ship Alley: More Sailor Town Days, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company, →OCLC, page 6:
   • All cabins are very similar and display a subtle nauticalness. They’re roomy at 188 square feet, but nowhere near as large as your typical high-end ship suite. 2000, Fran Wenograd Golden, “Wind Spirit / Wind Song / Wind Star”, in Frommer’s European Cruises and Ports of Call, Foster City, Calif.: IDG Books Worldwide, →ISBN, part 2 (The Cruise Lines & Their Ships), chapter 8 (The Ultra-Luxury Lines), section 6 (Windstar Cruises), page 230:
   • And somewhere, somewhere in all this nauticalness and officialese and professionalismo there reposed, Hradec was almost sure, the walkie-talkie. 1993 April, Donald E[diwn] Westlake, chapter 8, in Don’t Ask (Dortmunder; 8), New York, N.Y.: Mysterious Press, →ISBN, page 56:
   • A gold tie clip was made in the shape of a sailboat. The object was a jaunty nauticalness, I guess, but it made me seasick. 1993 August, Paul Kemprecos, chapter 11, in Feeding Frenzy (An Aristotle ‘Soc’ Socarides Mystery; 4), New York, N.Y.: A Perfect Crime Book, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 118:
   • Jack told me he’d been in the navy toward the end of World War II. I thought he must have been the picture of nauticalness in his uniform—except for that uncertainty, or perhaps it was hesitancy, in his voice and manner. 2011, Paula Fox, “The Tender Night”, in News from the World: Stories and Essays, New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, pages 58–59:
   • Little coats that carry a suggestion of nauticalness in their trimmings. Of fine cheviot serge in blue, trimmed with brass button and emblems in embroidery work on the sleeve. 1931 April 1, Canadian Department Stores, “Cheviot Serge Coats”, in The Ontario Intelligencer, Belleville, Ont.: W[illiam] H[erbert] Morton, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 11, column 5:
   • There wasn’t a pinch of nauticalness among the three women. And Bill’s idea of cruising was to sail for two weeks…without ever stopping or getting off the boat. It was a running joke. We’d pull into a cove and the women would plead for a five-minute walk on the beach. 1995, Paul C. Larsen, quoting Al Surprenant, “Don’t Give Up the Ship”, in To the Third Power: The Inside Story of Bill Koch’s Winning Strategies for the America’s Cup, Gardiner, Me.: Tilbury House, →ISBN, page 19:
   • However, Dinky did beautifully while I was being demonstrated to, and when he had made a skillful landing and getaway I turned her prow (that sounds much more nautical than bow, and much bigger, too, don’t you think?) towards the upper reaches (more nauticalness, d’y see?) of the river and chugged grandly away from that landing. 1920 August, C[arl] H[arry] Claudy, “Dinky—A Prose Poem”, in J. Harry Lewis, editor, The Crescent, volume 11, number 6, Saint Paul, Minn.: Crescent Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 152:
   • Nauticalness virtually overflows from this coffee shop–styled seafood house, from its steamy interior to its patio, where the smell of the salt air goes perfectly with the fresh seafood chowder. 1992, “Redwood Empire”, in Laura Hagar, Stephanie Irving, editors, Northern California Best Places: Restaurants, Lodgings, and Touring, Seattle, Wash.: Sasquatch Books, →ISBN, pages 268–269:

Forms

Synonyms

nauticality