to suspend a ball by a thread

That is where Mackay uttered his idiocity, and realising how idiotic it was, attempted to shift his idiocity on me. He is a right dishonest bastard!

A young petty officer that must have just received his “crow” (a single chevron, with an eagle over it) was showing off to several seamen.

One little incident of my school days occurs to me as amusing.