DICTIONARY OF

Tripping Palm 364 Trot
Tripping Palm. More or less flat projection on arm of a self-canting anchor. Its duty is to
bite into the ground and ensure that the flukes turn downward to bite into the ground.
Triquetrum.* Ancient navigational instrument for measuring altitude of Sun. Consisted of
two pieces of timber hinged at ends. One leg was kept in horizontal plane, the other was
pointed to Sun.
Trireme. Ancient war vessel of Carthaginians, Greeks, and Romans. Had three tiers, or
banks, of oars.
Triton. Greek sea god, son of Neptune.
Trochoid. Curve that would be made in the vertical plane of a point in a circle that is rolling
on a horizontal plane. Is of much importance when considering motions of free waves of the
sea.
Troll. To fish by drawing bait through the water.
Trooper. Troop ship. Transport.
Trooping. Royal Naval term for carrying relief crews for vessels on foreign stations, and for
bringing back the crews relieved. 2. Carrying troops by sea.
Troop Ship. Vessel fitted for carrying troops and their equipment. A transport.
Tropical Air. Air that has travelled from low latitudes to high latitudes.
Tropical Cyclone. Meteorological depression originating in low latitudes.
Tropical Month. Interval between successive transits of Moon through the same point in
Ecliptic. Value is 29 d 12h 43-075 m.
Tropical Year. Time taken by Earth to go round Ecliptic from First Point of Aries. As First
Point of Aries has a variable retrograde motion (about 50-26" annually), Earth does not
complete a sidereal revolution. Length is about 365 d 05 h 48 m 48 s, but this varies slightly.
Tropic of Cancer. Parallel of latitude, or declination, 23° 27' N, being the highest parallel
reached by Sun in his northerly motion. Reached about June 21.
Tropic of Capricorn. Parallel of latitude, or declination, 23° 27'S, being the highest parallel
reached by Sun in his southern motion. Reached about December 21.
Tropics. The tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. The area of Earth between the tropics.
Tropic Tides. Diurnal tides whose amplitudes vary with the declinational values of the tideraising
bodies-Sun and Moon.
Tropopause. Boundary between the troposphere and stratosphere.
Troposphere. The atmospheric shell in which we live. Extends upwards to a height of about
10 miles in the tropics, about seven miles in temperate latitudes, perhaps, five miles at poles.
Temperature decreases, more or less uniformly, with heights. Winds are not constant, rain
can be precipitated.
Trot. Line of mooring buoys laid out at regular intervals. 2. Line of fishing hooks laid out at
regular intervals when 'bottom fishing'.