The Collaborative International Dictionary
Taffrail \Taff"rail\, n. [D. tafereel a panel, picture, fr. tafel table, fr. L. tabula. See Table.] (Naut.) The upper part of a ship's stern, which is flat like a table on the top, and sometimes ornamented with carved work; the rail around a ship's stern. [Written also tafferel.]
Wiktionary
n. 1 A carved panel 2 (context nautical English) The flat upper part of a ship's stern above the transom, often decorated with carvings 3 (context nautical English) The taffrail
Usage examples of "tafferel".
But as soon as he felt the pain occasioned by the book in his jaws, he plunged towards the bottom of the sea with such violence, as to render the very tafferel hot, by the rapidity of the cord gliding over it.
It was my common practice to sit for hours after night-fall upon the tafferel, and strain my eyes in the attempt to distinguish objects on shore or strange sails in the distance.