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A bollard is a sturdy, short, vertical post on a ship or quay used principally for mooring boats.
The term is probably related to bole , meaning a tree trunk. [1] [2] [3] The earliest citation given by the Oxford English Dictionary (referring to a maritime bollard) dates from 1844, [1] although a reference in the Caledonian Mercury in 1817 describes bollards as huge posts. [4]
In maritime contexts, a bollard is either a wooden or iron post found as a deck-fitting on a ship or boat, and used to secure ropes for towing, mooring and other purposes; or its counterpart on land, a short wooden, iron, or stone post on a quayside to which craft can be moored. The Sailor's Word-Book of 1867 defines a bollard in a more specific context as "a thick piece of wood on the head of a whale-boat, round which the harpooner gives the line a turn, in order to veer it steadily, and check the animal's velocity". [1] [5] Bollards on ships, when arranged in pairs, may also be referred to as "bitts". [6] [7]