ratline

or rat·lin

[ rat-lin ]

nounNautical.
  1. any of the small ropes or lines that traverse the shrouds horizontally and serve as steps for going aloft.

  2. Also ratline stuff . three-stranded, right-laid, tarred hemp stuff of from 6 to 24 threads, used for ratlines, lashings, etc.

Origin of ratline

1
First recorded in 1475–85; earlier ratling, radelyng< ?

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use ratline in a sentence

  • Cuffe, consequently, was still a young man; and it cost him no great effort to get up his ship's ratlins in the manner named.

    The Wing-and-Wing | J. Fenimore Cooper
  • Like a sailor shinning up the ratlins during a squall Jerry mounted to his professional seat.

    The Four Million | O. Henry
  • I did not delay to descend the ratlins, but slid down a back-stay, just in time to meet the stranger as he approached our cabin.

    Captain Canot | Brantz Mayer
  • To reach this, it was necessary to extemporise by means of a rope a species of ratlins by which he could climb the rigging.

  • The seven men who had been sent up the ratlins to rig sails came shinning down ropes and masts to gain the cabin.

British Dictionary definitions for ratline

ratline

ratlin

/ (ˈrætlɪn) /


noun
  1. nautical any of a series of light lines tied across the shrouds of a sailing vessel for climbing aloft

Origin of ratline

1
C15: of unknown origin

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