- Originally, a vessel of the Mediterranean propelled by
sails and by oars. The French, about 1650, transferred the name to
larger vessels, and by 1750 it had been appropriated for a class of war
vessels intermediate between corvettes and ships of the line. Frigates,
from about 1750 to 1850, had one full battery deck and, often, a spar
deck with a lighter battery. They carried sometimes as many as fifty
guns. After the application of steam to navigation steam frigates of
largely increased size and power were built, and formed the main part
of the navies of the world till about 1870, when the introduction of
ironclads superseded them. - Any small vessel on the water.
Definition
[ n.]