Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Ceruchi

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

CERU'CHI (κεροῦχοι). The ropes which run from each arm of the sail-yard to the top of the mast, corresponding with what are now called in nautical language "the lifts." (Lucan. viii. 177. Id. x. 494.) Their object was to keep the yard in a level and horizontal position upon the mast, which it could not preserve without a support of this nature; and the largest class of vessels, which had a yard of great length and weight, were furnished with a double pair of lifts, as in the example (Ceruchi/1.1), from the Vatican Virgil; while the smaller and ordinary sized had only one.

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  Ceruchi/1.1