'To freshen the hawse' definitions:

Definition of 'To freshen the hawse'

From: GCIDE

Hawse \Hawse\ (h[add]z or h[add]s; 277), n. [Orig. a hawse hole, or hole in the bow of the ship; cf. Icel. hals, h[=a]ls, neck, part of the bows of a ship, AS. heals neck. See Collar, and cf. Halse to embrace.]
1. A hawse hole. --Harris. [1913 Webster]
2. (Naut.) (a) The situation of the cables when a vessel is moored with two anchors, one on the starboard, the other on the port bow. (b) The distance ahead to which the cables usually extend; as, the ship has a clear or open hawse, or a foul hawse; to anchor in our hawse, or athwart hawse. (c) That part of a vessel's bow in which are the hawse holes for the cables. [1913 Webster]
Athwart hawse. See under Athwart.
Foul hawse, a hawse in which the cables cross each other, or are twisted together.
Hawse block, a block used to stop up a hawse hole at sea; -- called also hawse plug.
Hawse piece, one of the foremost timbers of a ship, through which the hawse hole is cut.
Hawse plug. Same as Hawse block (above).
To come in at the hawse holes, to enter the naval service at the lowest grade. [Cant]
To freshen the hawse, to veer out a little more cable and bring the chafe and strain on another part. [1913 Webster] hawsehole

From: GCIDE

Freshen \Fresh"en\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Freshened; p. pr. & vb. n. Freshening]
1. To make fresh; to separate, as water, from saline ingredients; to make less salty; as, to freshen water, fish, or flesh. [1913 Webster]
2. To refresh; to revive. [Obs.] --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
3. (Naut.) To relieve, as a rope, by change of place where friction wears it; or to renew, as the material used to prevent chafing; as, to freshen a hawse. -- Totten. [1913 Webster]
To freshen ballast (Naut.), to shift Or restore it.
To freshen the hawse, to pay out a little more cable, so as to bring the chafe on another part.
To freshen the way, to increase the speed of a vessel. --Ham. Nav. Encyc. [1913 Webster]