cordelle

American  

[kawr-del] / kɔrˈdɛl /

noun

1. a heavy rope formerly used for towing boats on rivers in Canada and the U.S.

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verb (used with object)

cordelled, cordelling

1. to tow (a boat) by means of a cordelle.

Etymology

Origin of cordelle

1785–95; < French, diminutive of corde cord

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cordelle cordelled cordelling

I would be gazing wide-mouthed at the cordelle men.

From The River and I by John G. Neihardt

The pole, the cordelle, the paddle, and the sail, in turn helped them to navigate the great streams which led out into the West.

From The Passing of the Frontier; a chronicle of the old West by Emerson Hough

The only French word left by the old voyageurs, so far as I now remember, is "cordelle," to tow a boat by a rope carried along the shore.

From The Hoosier Schoolmaster A Story of Backwoods Life in Indiana by Edward Eggleston

The former is much in the shape of a canal boat, long, slim-built, sharp at each end, and propelled by setting poles and the cordelle or long rope.

From A New Guide for Emigrants to the West by John Mason Peck

They made good time, but it was mostly cordelle work.

From The Young Alaskans on the Missouri by Emerson Hough

"Very low, sir; we cordelled much of the way."

From The River and I by John G. Neihardt

The next morning early we entered the picturesque Dalles of the St. Croix, then cordelled our boat over Baker's falls, and landed at the village of St. Croix Falls.

From Fifty Years In The Northwest With An Introduction And Appendix Containing Reminiscences, Incidents And Notes by William Henry Carman Folsom

From this point they made a portage and cordelled their boat, and with poles and lines ascended to Snake river.

From Fifty Years In The Northwest With An Introduction And Appendix Containing Reminiscences, Incidents And Notes by William Henry Carman Folsom

Sometimes the boat was "cordelled," or towed by the men walking on the shore and drawing the barge by a rope held on their shoulders.

From Stories of American Life and Adventure by Edward Eggleston

The boat was cordelled over the rapids, and, with poles and lines, taken as far as the mouth of Kanabec river, where a camp was established.

From Fifty Years In The Northwest With An Introduction And Appendix Containing Reminiscences, Incidents And Notes by William Henry Carman Folsom

With difficulty cordelling his barge around the Regent’s Park, Bill Bootle, the canal boatman, was making slow speed.

From The Child Wife by Mayne Reid

Once in the Ohio, there was no surcease from hard work—poling, paddling, or cordelling, sometimes all three together, to climb the rushing stream.

From The Rose of Old St. Louis by Mary Dillon

I’ve been counting on that old black eagle, all the way up, cordelling from the mouth of the Yellowstone.”

From The Young Alaskans on the Missouri by Emerson Hough

They bade him good-bye at last, and started home, now rowing against the current and now cordelling along the river shore, when they grew tired of rowing.

From The Hoosier School-boy by Edward Eggleston

It is not, however, a proceeding I should advise to be undertaken by one who lacks the strength and experience necessary for poling and cordelling.

From A Volunteer with Pike The True Narrative of One Dr. John Robinson and of His Love for the Fair Señorita Vallois by Robert Ames Bennet