squill-gee

See also: squillgee

English

Alternative forms

• squillgee, squilgee, squillage, squillagee

Etymology

Unknown

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Noun

squill-gee (plural squill-gees)

1. (nautical) A tool used for cleaning the decks of ships.
   • 1829, George Jones, Sketches of Naval Life, with Notices of Men, Manners and Scenery, on the Shores of the Mediterranean, in a Series of Letters from the Brandwine and Constitution Frigates, volume 1, page 97:

     After the holy-stone, comes the squill-gee; a wooden instrument like a hoe, but with a face, broad and flat, and lined with leather: the decks are partly dried with it; and the operation is completed by the swabs, articles formed by tying a number of loose yarns together, now dashed, by their handles, with violence about the deck.