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.
{Athwart hawse}. See under {Athwart}.
{Foul hawse}, a hawse in which the cables cross each other,
or are twisted together.
{Hawse block}, a block used to stop up a hawse hole at sea;
-- called also {hawse plug}.
{Hawse hole}, a hole in the bow of a ship, through which a
cable passes.
{Hawse piece}, one of the foremost timbers of a ship, through
which the hawse hole is cut.
{Hawse plug}. Same as {Hawse block} (above).
{To come in at the hawse holes}, to enter the naval service
at the lowest grade. [Cant]
{To freshen the hawse}, to veer out a little more cable and
bring the chafe and strain on another part.