marline
noun, verb
Forms marlines marlining marlined
- noun A light all-purpose cord commonly used to bind the end of a larger rope, to prevent fraying.
- noun Twine used similarly.
- verb (nautical) To wind marline around.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English merlin, from Middle Low German marling, from Middle Dutch marlijn (“cord”), from marlen (“secure, fasten”), frequentative of maren (“to moor”), from Proto-Germanic *mairōną (“to moor, fasten to”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer-.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A small line composed of two strands a little twisted, used for winding around ropes and cables, to prevent their being weakened by fretting. Marline spike, Marling spike (Naut.), an iron tool tapering to a point, used to separate the strands of a rope in splicing and in marling. It has an eye in the thick end to which a lanyard is attached. See Fid. [Written also marlin spike] -- Marline-spike bird.
- verb To wind marline around; as, to marline a rope.
Etymology [LG. marlien, marling, or D. marling, marlijn, fr. D. marren to tie, prob. akin to E. moor, v., and lijn line: cf.F. merlin. See Moor, v., Line.]
Etymology [F. merliner.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “marline”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details