[gun.wale] also gun.nel n [ME gonne-wale, fr. gonne gun + [1]wale; fr. its former use as a support for guns] (15c): the upper edge of a ship's or boat's side -- to the gunwales : as full as possible
GUNWALE
Meaning of GUNWALE in English
Merriam-Webster English vocab. Английский словарь Merriam Webster. 2012