Word.ws English Dictionary

vargord

vargord noun: a spar or bar used instead of a bowline.

Noun

vargord (plural vargords)

  1. (historical) A spar or bar used instead of a bowline.
    • I think the five reefs on the foresail may be a mistake, the two upper cringles serving really for the vargord — not shown. There seem to be two bowlines to the mainsail.1925, Moore, Alan Hilary, Sir,2d bart., 1882-1959, “Lugsails”, in Last days of mast & sail: an essay in nautical comparative anatomy, page 210
    • The next step towards the lug was the introduction of the vargord. This was a spar that held the weather leech of the square sail forward, serving the purpose of the bowline by means of compression in the spar instead of tension in the ropes forming the bowlines. [...] As with much else in the...1962, Phillips-Birt, Douglas Hextall Chedzey, Fore & aft sailing craft, & the development of the modern yacht, page 108

Examples of vargord in a sentence

  • The next step towards the lug was the introduction of the vargord.1962, Phillips-Birt, Douglas Hextall Chedzey, Fore & aft sailing craft, & the development of the modern yacht, page 108:
  • This boom could be fixed in a block on either side before the mast, similar to the 20th century vargord or spar used in Cornish dipping lug-rigged fishing boats.1977, National Maritime Museum, From viking ship to Victory, page 32:

Forms of vargord

pluralvargords
alternative formfargood
alternative formforegirt
alternative formvargood

Origin of vargord

Most possibly originating from Cornish dialect. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the term vargood back to 1726 in the writing of Samuel Penhallow, politician and historian.

Questions about vargord

What does vargord mean?
Vargord means a spar or bar used instead of a bowline.
How do you use vargord in a sentence?
The next step towards the lug was the introduction of the vargord.
What part of speech is vargord?
Vargord is a noun.
What is the plural of vargord?
The plural of vargord is vargords.

Words near vargord in the dictionary

  1. Varghese
  2. Vargheses
  3. Varginha
  4. Vargo
  5. vargood
  6. vargord
  7. Vargos
  8. vargueno
  9. varguenos
  10. vargueño
  11. Varguism

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: vargord (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “vargord.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/vargord. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.