The Collaborative International Dictionary
Fother \Foth"er\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fothered; p. pr. & vb.
n. Fothering.] [Cf. Fodder food, and G. f["u]ttern,
futtern, to cover within or without, to line. [root]75.]
To stop (a leak in a ship at sea) by drawing under its bottom
a thrummed sail, so that the pressure of the water may force
it into the crack.
--Totten.
Fother \Foth"er\, n. [OE. fother, foder, AS. f[=o]?er a cartload; akin to G. fuder a cartload, a unit of measure, OHG. fuodar, D. voeder, and perh. to E. fathom, or cf. Skr. p[=a]tr[=a] vessel, dish. Cf. Fodder a fother.]
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A wagonload; a load of any sort. [Obs.]
Of dung full many a fother.
--Chaucer. See Fodder, a unit of weight.
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context obsolete English) A wagonload. 2 (context: obsolete) A load of any sort. 3 (context: historical) A load: various English units of weight or volume based upon standardized cartloads of certain commodities. 4 (context dialect English) (altform fodder nodot=1 English), food for animals. vb. 1 (context dialect English) To feed animals (with fother). 2 (context dated nautical English) To stop a leak with oakum or old rope (often by drawing a sail under the hull).
Usage examples of "fother".
Stephen noticed that they had prepared another sail for fothering the ship, and that they were going through the same laborious motions of passing it under her bottom, a long, tedious operation with innumerable orders roaring over the grind of the pumps.
The leak gained on them as the oakum of the first successful fothering worked through the leak, and the passing of a new sail was a slow, exhausting business that had little evident result: the Leopard drove eastward and a little south under small sail in a rising wind, pumping day and night.
And luckily the weather, though as foul as can be imagined, was not cold: luckily, for all the beds aboard Surprise had to be stuffed into those shocking started butts, where the sea came pouring in for the first two days, in spite of all the fothering in the world.
But he saw the fothered sail placed against the hole, and with intense satisfaction he saw the hairy mass suck into position, dimpling over the hole to form a deep hollow so that he could be sure that the hole was plugged solid.
The shot hole with its fothered sail would be deeper under water to increase the risk, but it seemed to be the best chance.
He had been over the side himself and could remember the height of the waterline, and he had for a more exact guide the level of the fothered sail under the ship's bottom.
Jack had been at the pumps all the time he could spare from the lightening of the ship and all the fothering: his leg had not allowed him to move about nearly as much as he wished and he had had to rely on Grant for much of the work and many of the instant decisions.
After an indefinite period Stephen noticed that they had prepared another sail for fothering the ship, and that they were going through the same laborious motions of passing it under her bottom, a long, tedious operation with innumerable orders roaring over the grind of the pumps.
We just finished fothering it with a sail"—that meant sliding a sail over the hole as a canvas patch—"but a lot of the seams are sprung, and we're still taking on water.
His Lordship's gloom seemed justified for, despite the fothering and the pumping, the condition of the damaged frigate seemed to be suddenly worsening.
The captured frigate's hull was so fouled by damage and by fothering, and her upperworks so feebly rigged, that the ship would probably be pushed backward by the opposition of even the most feeble ebbing current.
And luckily the weather, though as foul as can be imagined, was not cold: luckily, for all the beds aboard Surprise had to be stuffed into those shocking started butts, where the sea came pouring in for the first two days, in spite of all the fothering in the world.