ratline
or rat·lin
any of the small ropes or lines that traverse the shrouds horizontally and serve as steps for going aloft.
Also ratline stuff . three-stranded, right-laid, tarred hemp stuff of from 6 to 24 threads, used for ratlines, lashings, etc.
Origin of ratline
1Dictionary.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 CooperLike a sailor shinning up the ratlins during a squall Jerry mounted to his professional seat.
The Four Million | O. HenryI 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 MayerTo reach this, it was necessary to extemporise by means of a rope a species of ratlins by which he could climb the rigging.
The Dominion of the Air | J. M. BaconThe seven men who had been sent up the ratlins to rig sails came shinning down ropes and masts to gain the cabin.
The Story of the Trapper | A. C. Laut
British Dictionary definitions for ratline
ratlin
/ (ˈrætlɪn) /
nautical any of a series of light lines tied across the shrouds of a sailing vessel for climbing aloft
Origin of ratline
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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