bowsplit

bowsplit n [Var, perh by folk-etym, of bowsprit]

2000 Shores Tangier Is. 188 Chesapeake Bay, The last item is the Islanders’ rendering of bowsprit, which they call “bowsplit.” 2009 White Skipjack 162 Chesapeake Bay, It was diff’rent in the Old Man’s day. . . On my father’s skipjack, we competed with each other. . . In a gale, I’d be the first one out on the bowsplit to reef the jib.