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running rigging

American  

noun

Nautical.
  1. rigging for handling sails, yards, etc. (contrasted with standing rigging).

  2. rigging for handling cargo.


running rigging British  

noun

  1. nautical the wires and ropes used to control the operations of a sailing vessel Compare standing rigging

"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

Etymology

Origin of running rigging

First recorded in 1660–70

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Standing rod rigging is paired with running rigging of Gleistein Dyneema and Vectran ropes.

From Time Magazine Archive

Then the squall struck whining from the west, with gale force, breaking both forestays, and the mast came toppling aft along the ship’s length, so the running rigging showered into the bilge.

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

A hook employed for some of the ends of the running rigging.

From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Belcher, Edward, Sir

Within twenty minutes most of the running rigging was also shot away, so as to leave the ship largely unmanageable; but she had only five killed and five wounded.

From Sea Power in its Relations to the War of 1812 Volume 1 by Mahan, A. T. (Alfred Thayer)

She was a biggish composite vessel of about seventeen hundred tons register, with that horrible thing, wire running rigging.

From A Tramp's Notebook by Roberts, Morley

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