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

Farther up the stream she thought she could discern the party in the yawl, striving to reach shore with the cumbersome cordelle.

From A Dream of Empire Or, The House of Blennerhassett by Venable, William Henry

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 Eggleston, Edward

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

From The River and I by Neihardt, John G.

To aid them in these exigencies, the cordelle is employed.

From Scenes and Andventures in the Semi-Alpine Region of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas by Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe

In return they shipped molasses, sugar, coffee, lead, and hides upon the few keel boats which crept upstream or the blundering barges which were propelled northward by means of oar, sail, and cordelle.

From The Paths of Inland Commerce; a chronicle of trail, road, and waterway by Hulbert, Archer Butler