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

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 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

The current was now very swift, and we were obliged to cordelle the boat along the left shore, where the bank was covered with large masses of rocks.

From The Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, Oregon and California To which is Added a Description of the Physical Geography of California, with Recent Notices of the Gold Region from the Latest and Most Authentic Sources by John Charles Frémont

With only now and then the cordelle, and still more rarely the oars, they moved all day across the lands and waters that were once the fastnesses of the Baratarian pirates.

From Bonaventure A Prose Pastoral of Acadian Louisiana by George Washington Cable

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

From The Young Alaskans on the Missouri by Emerson Hough

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

Crossing to the right bank, we cordelled the boat along the shore, there being no longer any use of the paddles, and put into a little bay below the upper rapids.

From The Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, Oregon and California To which is Added a Description of the Physical Geography of California, with Recent Notices of the Gold Region from the Latest and Most Authentic Sources by John Charles Frémont

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

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

We paddled and cordelled valiantly, discussing Milk River the while.

From The River and I by John G. Neihardt

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

The work of rowing and cordelling was hard, but they carried light and hopeful hearts.

From The Hoosier School-boy by Edward Eggleston

In cordelling, one sits in the skiff and steers, while the other walks on the shore, drawing the boat by a rope over the shoulders.

From The Hoosier School-boy by Edward Eggleston

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