very's night signals

1 definition found

very's night signals - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Very's night signals \Ver"y's night signals\, or Very night
  signals \Ver"y night signals\ . [After Lieut. Samuel W. Very,
     who invented the system in 1877.] (Naut.)
     A system of signaling in which balls of red and green fire
     are fired from a pistol, the arrangement in groups denoting
     numbers having a code significance. The pistol used to fire
     the signal flare is called a
  
     Very pistol.
        [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]