subs. phr. (nautical).—‘TOM COX’S TRAVERSE, three turns round the long boat, and a pull at the scuttle butt’: said of a shirker feigning busy.
1835. R. H. DANA, Jr., Two Years Before the Mast, xii. Every man who has been three months at sea knows how to work ‘TOM COX’S TRAVERSE.’ This morning everything went in his way. Sojering was the order of the day.
