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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cordelle cordelled cordelling

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

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

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 Archer Butler Hulbert

They won up over the sullen rapids of the river which came into the bay, toiling sometimes waist-deep at the cordelle, yet complaining not at all.

From The Mississippi Bubble by Emerson Hough

It’s because the shores were more open, so they could use the cordelle!

From The Young Alaskans on the Missouri by Emerson Hough

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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