or arch, subs. (old cant).—1. A boat; a wherry: e.g., Let us take an ARK and winns = Let us take a sculler (B. E. and GROSE). Hence ARKMAN = a waterman: see quot. 1785 and ACKMAN. Also (2), in Western America, a flat-bottomed market-produce boat (BARTLETT): rarely seen since the introduction of steam.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. ARK RUFFIANS, (cant) rogues who in conjunction with watermen, robbed and sometimes murdered on the water, by picking a quarrel with the passengers in a boat, boarding it, plundering, stripping, and throwing them overboard, &c. a species of badgers.
1799. A Description of the Settlement of Genesee County, N. Y. [BARTLETT]. These boats were invented by a Mr. Knyder, of Juniata River, who first tried the experiment, and reached Baltimore in safety. ‘They are made of plank, are broken up after discharging their cargo, and sold for lumber, with little or no loss. They are navigated by three or five men, and will float down at the rate of eighty miles a day; they are called ARKS.’
1884. H. EVANS, London Rambler, ‘Brighton Beach Loafer’ [A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant]. I goes and sneaks a mikket and a lot of lines of a pal’s ARCH.
3. (military).—A barrack-room chest: a lingering use of an old dialect word.
