Well, Atomica told me that surely I meant cam or bouse. Here's what it has for bouse:
bouse also bowse (bouz) .

v. Nautical., boused also bowsed., bous·ing bows·ing., bous·es bows·es.

v.tr.
To pull or hoist with a tackle.

v.intr.
To hoist.

[Origin unknown.]

I tried Google, and the couple of listings in French made me try a French dictionary; I'm afraid the on-line ones that I can find are not very comprehensive. I did find, however, cambuse: a) (Shipping) storeroom
(b) (Slang) pad; quelle ~! what a dump!, what a (complete) dive!

I also found a link to a picture of someone cooking, titled (in French) 'Zort in his cambouse'.
http://groups.msn.com/weekendscoliens/wequimousse1.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=3265

Not a great deal of help, I'm afraid. I hope the Word Master responds to the challenge. :-)