vang

Meanings

Verb

• To take; undertake for.
• To undertake for at the baptismal font; be godfather or godmother to.
• To flatten the sail and regulate its position with such a line.

Noun

• A line extended down from the end of a yard or a gaff, used to regulate its position

Related

Narrower meaning words

• boom vang

Origin

• From Middle English vangen, southern variant of fangen, from Old English fōn ("to take, grasp, seize, catch, capture, make prisoner, receive, accept, assume, undertake, meet with, encounter"), and Old Norse fanga ("to fetch, capture"), both from Proto-Germanic *fanhaną, *fangōną ("to catch, capture"), from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂ḱ- ("to fasten, place").
• Cognate with West Frisian fange ("to catch"), Dutch vangen ("to catch"), German fangen ("to catch"), Danish fange ("to catch"). More at fang.
• Borrowed from Dutch vangen ("to catch"). Ultimately a of etymology one.