sb. (a.) Naut. Forms: α. 4 ladde-borde, 5 ladeborde, latheborde, latebord. β. 6 larborde, lerbord, leereboord, 6–7 larbo(o)rd, 7 lubbord, 7– larboard. [ME. lad(d)eborde, latheborde, altered in the 16th c. into ler-, leere-, larbord, by form-association with the contemporary ster-, -steere-, starbord. The second component is OE. bord, ON. borðe, ship’s side (BOARD sb. 12); the origin of the first component, which appears as ladde-, lade-, lathe-, late-, has not been determined.
Some would connect it with LADE v., taking it to mean ‘the side on which cargo was received,’ or on which deck cargo was placed.
In OE. the corresponding term was bæcbord; this did not survive into ME., though its etymological equivalent still remains in all the mod. continental Teut. tongues, and was adopted into Rom. (F. bâbord). The word seems to have meant ‘the side at the back of the steersman’; the rudder or steering-paddle of early Germanic ships having been worked over the right side, whence the name stéorbord ‘steering-side,’ STARBOARD.]
The side of a ship that is to the left hand of a person looking from the stern towards the bows. Opposed to starboard. (Freq. in phr. without the article, as † on, † by, † a, to larboard.)
The term has now been discarded in the navy and supplanted by port, to avoid confusion with the similar-sounding starboard.
α. 13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., C. 106. Þay layden in on laddeborde & þe lofe wynnes.
1495. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 203. Devettes … j a sterbord an other a latebord.
β. 15[?]. Sir A. Barton, in Surtees Misc. (1888), 68. Ethere bye lerbord or by lowe That Scootte would overcome yowe. Ibid., 69. A larborde wher Sir Andrewe lay.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 21. Theire ships too larboord doo nod.
1591. Raleigh, Last Fight Rev. (Arb.), 19. Two on her larboord, and two on her starboord.
1598. Hakluyt, Voy., I. 4. Vpon his steereboord alwayes the desert land, and vpon the leereboord the maine Ocean.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 1019. When Ulysses on the Larbord shunnd Charybdis.
1698. Froger, Voy., 171. About break of Day we saw five Ships, three to the Star-board, and two to the Lar-board.
1707. Lond. Gaz., No. 4380/2. In firing along our Larboard, we saw he had a Design to board us on the Bow.
1853. Herschel, Pop. Lect. Sci., i. § 17 (1873), 11. She will heel over to larboard.
† b. as adv. = To larboard; formerly used as a nautical command. Obs.
1634–5. Brereton, Trav. (Chetham Soc.), 169. Larboard, that is, to the left hand.
1647. R. Stapylton, Juvenal, 224. Larboard now The reeling tree, then starboard, forc’t to bow.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel, 32. As well understood … as one at Sea among Mariners; saying, Steere, or Lar-board.
1667. Dryden, Tempest, I. i. You Dogs, is this a time to sleep? Lubbord. Heave together, Lads.
B. attrib. passing into adj. Belonging to or situated on the left or port side of a vessel.
1495. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 192. Latheborde Bowers … Sterborde destrelles … Ladeborde destrelles.
a. 1613. Overbury, A Wife, Saylor. In a storme tis disputable … on which side of the ship he may be saued best, whether his faith bee starre-bord faith or lar-bord.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage, IX. vii. 862. The Land on Larbord side (saith Sir R. Hawkins) is without doubt Ilands.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., ix. 39. His Mate with his Larboord men … releeues them till foure in the morning.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., I. 18. Cast off your Larboard-Braces.
1748. Anson’s Voy., I. vi. 59. A signal was made … to bring to with the larboard tacks. Ibid., II. v. 177. About four points on the larboard-bow.
1762. Falconer, Shipwr., I. 282. On the larboard quarter.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, viii. Ease off the larboard hawser.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Larboard-watch, the old term for port-watch.
b. humorously used for: Left.
1781. Cowper, Lett. to J. Newton, 18 March, Wks. 1837, XV. 75. A slight disorder in my larboard eye may possibly prevent my writing you a long letter.
