Literary question for you Brits...

Text: "'Now turn out your pockets, 'said Jack. Babbington's face fell. A little heap of objects appeared [...] a surprising number of coins [...] Jack returned fourpence, observing that that would set him up handsomely in cheesecakes, recommended him to bring back all his men as he should answer the contrary at his peril, and desired him to 'top his boom'.
'It is the only way of keeping him passably chaste,' he said to Stephen. 'There are a great many loose women in Dover, I am afraid."

Ok,..."top his boom"... I suppose he wanted him to masturbate (?) before going ashore?

 

I've no idea WQ.
Does sound like a Nautical term being used as a euphemism doesn't it.

Cheers,
Adam.

 

Yeah, well, this site Patrick O'Brian Discussion List: Topping his boom says what I suspect, although with no further explanation. The novels are filled with a lot of old, and probably dead, english words...like "cove" for "boy or man chap; fellow." You boys still use that term or is "mate" the only word now?

 

Depends, Will. Older English people still use 'fellow' or 'fella', 'bloke', 'cove' etc. In Scotland it's 'pal' or 'guys', 'gadgie' or even 'neebur' (neighbour -also used as 'pal').

 

The suggestion that to "top one's boom" is nautical slang for masturbation is incorrect. I have only heard the term used once in a nautical context, but that one time it was used to indicate that it was time to "shove off" or leave.

According to "The Sailor's Wordbook" by William Henry Smyth, published in 1867, the term means exactly that; to start off or get under weigh.

See: http://books.google.com/books?id=b9YwAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA119&lpg=PA119&dq=Top+one's+boom&source=web&ots=KuLA1LOxJp&sig=y-UFU6x8NBJ6p0VmYFDoHxm5qYs&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result

 

Thank you. Yes, that would seem to be a much better definition. After all, what would masturbating do to keep him away from women, especially after being on a boat with a bunch of hard-legs for all that time? Anyway...