The DICT Development Group

  Gunnel \Gun"nel\, n. [See Gunwale.]
     1. A gunwale.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Zool.) A small, eel-shaped, marine fish of the genus
        Mur[ae]noides; esp., M. gunnellus of Europe and
        America; -- called also gunnel fish, butterfish, rock
        eel.
        [1913 Webster]

  Gunwale \Gun"wale\, n. [Gun + wale. So named because the upper
     guns were pointed from it.] (Naut.)
     The upper edge of a vessel's or boat's side; the uppermost
     wale of a ship (not including the bulwarks); or that piece of
     timber which reaches on either side from the quarter-deck to
     the forecastle, being the uppermost bend, which finishes the
     upper works of the hull. [Written also gunnel.]
     [1913 Webster]

  gunnel
      n 1: wale at the top of the side of boat; topmost planking of a
           wooden vessel [syn: gunwale, gunnel, gun rest]
      2: small eellike fishes common in shallow waters of the northern
         Atlantic [syn: gunnel, bracketed blenny]