Question

1944, Miles Burton, chapter 5, in The Three Corpse Trick:

The dinghy was trailing astern at the end of its painter, and Merrion looked at it as he passed. He saw that it was a battered-looking affair of the prahm type, with a blunt snout, and like the parent ship, had recently been painted a vivid green.

Accepted Answer

(transitivehttps://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#transitive) To observehttps://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/observe or watchhttps://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/watch (something).

Sentence	1944, Miles Burton, chapter 5, in The Three Corpse Trick: The dinghy was trailing astern at the end of its painter, and Merrion looked at it as he passed. He saw that it was a battered-looking affair of the prahm type, with a blunt snout, and like the parent ship, had recently been painted a vivid green.
Definition	( transitive https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#transitive ) To observe https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/observe or watch https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/watch (something).

Miles Burton Chapter Corpse Trick Dinghy Trailing Astern