through the hawsehole

English

Prepositional phrase

through the hawsehole

1. (nautical, slang) Of an officer: having risen from the grade of an ordinary seaman, whose original position in the vessel was forward, before the mast.

Usage notes

• Used with various verbs ("come", "go", "crawl", "climb", "creep", etc.) and sometimes with "in" or "up" preceding "through".

See also

• rise through the ranks

References

• John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary