Gŭn’wale, n.

(commonly pron. gŭn’nel), n. [Written also gunnel.] [From gun and wale, because the upper guns are pointed from it, if the ship carries any.] (Naut.) The upper edge of a ship’s side; the uppermost wale of a ship, or that piece of timber which reaches on either side from the quarter-deck to the forecastle, being the uppermost bend, which finishes the upper works of the hull.