Dictionary

tally on en · VERB

Meanings

1. (archaic) To man a rope for hauling, the sailors standing in a line (also called a tail)
   • “Now then — to the main topsail now! Tally on to that gantline. Don't stand about there!” 1897, Joseph Conrad, The Children of the Sea: A Tale of the Forecastle, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, →OCLC:
   • Make fast a rope at bow and at stern! Good! Every man for himself! Up, thou! And thou! Up go we all! Come, tally on and hoist the boat on board! 1923, Charles Boardman Hawes, The Dark Frigate, Chapter 17:
   • Our watch haul out the fore, and lay aloft and put two reefs into it, and reef the foresail, and race with the starboard watch, to see which will mast-head its topsail first. All hands tally-on to the main tack, and while some are furling the jib, and hoisting the staysail, we mizen-topmen double-reef the mizen topsail and hoist it up. 1840, R[ichard] H[enry] D[ana], Jr., Two Years before the Mast. […] (Harper’s Family Library; no. CVI), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], →OCLC:
2. To dovetail together.

Forms