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Showing results for clothesline. Search instead for clotheslined.
Synonyms

clothesline

American  
[klohz-lahyn, klohthz-] / ˈkloʊzˌlaɪn, ˈkloʊðz- /

noun

  • clotheslines
    plural
  1. a strong, narrow rope, cord, wire, etc., usually stretched between two poles, posts, or buildings, on which clean laundry is hung to dry.


clothesline British  
/ ˈkləʊðzˌlaɪn /

noun

  1. a piece of rope, cord, or wire on which clean washing is hung to dry or air

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of clothesline

First recorded in 1820–30; clothes + line 1


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

In even a light breeze the polyester billows, like a bedsheet on a clothesline, providing enough shade for a family.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 23, 2026

Footage obtained by TMZ shows Sweeney climbing up the Hollywood sign to help string up a clothesline of assorted bras across the familiar landmark.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2026

Eleven-year-old Arakel is holding his cardboard model of a house with a retractable clothesline.

From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2025

If time was like a clothesline, I wanted to do it for as long as ever.

From Salon ● May 22, 2024

A few of the girls began playing jump rope with an old piece of clothesline.

From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan

Among the tanks, pipes, and clotheslines, each family has carved out its own space.

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

The long, thin spaghetti shape, he says, was an especially efficient way to dry the pasta, by hanging the strands on structures similar to clotheslines.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2025

A strip of a mud-floored foyer packs in a kitchen, a few plastic chairs, two rope beds and fraying clotheslines.

From BBC ● May 8, 2024

Left behind among the piles of trash are clotheslines made from barbed wire.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2024

These already looked like the ones we’d first moved into, sand piling up against foundation blocks, the clotheslines empty, all signs and markers gone.

From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston

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