stern sheets

pl.n. Nautical

The stern area of an open boat.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

stern sheets

pl n

1. (Nautical Terms) nautical the part of an open boat near the stern

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

stern′ sheets`

n.pl.

the after part of an open boat.

[1475–85]

References in classic literature ?

She was heavily laden, and I could make out as she drew nearer Montgomery's white-haired, broad-shouldered companion sitting cramped up with the dogs and several packing-cases in the stern sheets. This individual stared fixedly at me without moving or speaking.

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Van Horn's rifle lay handy in the stern sheets where he stood near Tambi, who steered with a long sweep.

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In a pirate, man-of-war, or slave ship, when the captain is rowed anywhere in his boat, he always sits in the stern sheets on a comfortable, sometimes cushioned seat there, and often steers himself with a pretty little milliner's tiller decorated with gay cords and ribbons.

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They took the oars, while in the stern sheets, at the steering sweep, stood a young man garbed in the tropic white that marks the European.

It was the OROHENA, owned by Toriki, the half-caste trader, who served as his own supercargo and who doubtlessly was even then in the stern sheets of the boat.

In the stern sheets, encouraging the rowers, was Raoul.

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The young sailor jumped into the skiff, and sat down in the stern sheets, with the order that he be put ashore at La Canebiere.