head-bent

Updated: July 18, 2026

The boats had not gone very far, when by a signal from the mast-heads a downward pointed arm, Ahab knew that the whale had sounded; but intending to be near him at the next rising, he held on his way a little sideways from the vessel; the becharmed crew maintaining the profoundest silence, as the head-bent waves hammered and hammered against the opposing bow.

Herman Melville - Moby Dick: or, the White Whale