belaying pin

American  

noun

Nautical.

1. a short, round bar of metal or wood, inserted in a fife rail or pin rail, to which a rope is belayed.

---

belaying pin British  

noun

1. nautical a cylindrical, sometimes tapered pin, usually of metal or wood, that fits into a hole in a pin or fife rail: used for belaying

---

Etymology

Origin of belaying pin

First recorded in 1830–40

Example Sentences

Spanker league belaying pin snow rope’s end barque spyglass.

From Seattle Times

Among the well-preserved and often poignant items recovered from the Erebus are the ship’s bell, part of its wheel, several belaying pins, china plates, a cannon and a ceramic pot labelled “anchovy paste”.

From The Guardian

Rope is looped around metal dowels called belaying pins that sit in a horizontal steel bar called a pin rail.

From Washington Post

I staggered up as bidden, and in a moment he had secured me with a rope to a belaying pin amidships, beneath the bridge.

From Project Gutenberg

The decks, which were flush fore and aft, were as white as curds; the brasses on the wheel, capstans, masts, skylights, belaying pins, shone till you could see your face in them.

From Project Gutenberg