ALOFT [Anglo-Saxon, _alofte_, on high]. Above; overhead; on high. Synonymous with up above the tops, at the mast-head, or anywhere about the higher yards, masts, and rigging of ships.--_Aloft there!_ the hailing of people in the tops.--_Away aloft!_ the command to the people in the rigging to climb to their stations. Also, heaven: "Poor Tom is gone _aloft_." ALONDE. An old English word for ashore, on land. ALONG [Saxon]. Lengthwise.--_Alongside_, by the side of a ship; side by side.--_Lying along_, when the wind, being on the beam, presses the ship over to leeward with the press of sail; or, _lying along_ the land. ALONGSHORE. A common nautical phrase signifying along the coast, or a course which is in sight of the shore, and nearly parallel to it. (_See_ 'LONGSHORE.) ALONGST. In the middle of a stream; moored head and stern. ALOOF. The old word for "keep your luff," in the act of sailing to the wind. (_See_ LUFF.)--_Keep aloof_, at a distance. ALOOFE. _See_ ALEWIFE. ALOW. Synonymous with _below_; as _alow_ and _aloft_, though more properly _low_ and _aloft_. Carrying all sail _alow and aloft_ is when the reefs are shaken out, and all the studding-sails set. ALPHABETICAL LIST. This is a list which accompanies the ship's books; it contains the names and number of every person in the pay-book. ALTAIR. The bright nautical star α Aquilæ, binary. ALTAR. A platform in the upper part of a dock. ALTEMETRIE. The old term for trigonometry among navigators. ALTERNATE. Reciprocal.--_Alternate angles_ are the internal angles formed by a line cutting two parallels, and lying on the opposite side of the cutting line; the one below the first parallel, and the other above.--_Alternate ratio_ is that of which the antecedents and consequents bear respectively to each other in any proportion which has the quantities of the same kind. ALTERNATING WINDS. Peculiar winds blowing at stated times one way, and then, from a sudden alteration in the temperature of the elements, setting in the contrary direction. A remarkable instance is that of the Gulf of Arta in the Ionian Sea, where the effect is promoted by local causes. All land and sea breezes are strictly alternating winds. These however are mostly intertropical; the solar heat causing the sea-breeze to blow on the land by day, and condensation and greater heat of the sea causing a reaction when the land has cooled to a lower temperature. ALTERNATION OR PERMUTATION OF QUANTITIES, is the varying or changing their order, and is easily found by a continual multiplication of all numbers. ALTIMETRY. Trigonometry; the art of measuring heights or depressions of land, whether accessible or not.