A mode of destroying devoted persons or officers in a mutiny or ship-board, by blindfolding them, and obliging them to walk on a plank laid over the ship’s side; by this means, as the mutineers suppose, avoiding the penalty of murder.
Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.
Walking Stationer * Walking Up Against the WallNathan Bailey's 1736 Dictionary of canting and thieving slang
John S. Farmer's collection of canting songs and slang rhymes