A type of wooden peg or pin used in shipbuilding to join timbers together, or a piece of rope used in nautical contexts.
From Middle Dutch 'kavel' meaning a share or lot, possibly related to the division of ship's timbers; evolved into maritime terminology for wooden joining devices.
Ship builders used cavels to literally hold vessels together before modern metal fasteners—every cavel represented a craftsperson's skill in understanding wood grain and stress points.
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