trail rope
Americannoun
noun
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another name for dragrope
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a long rope formerly used for various military purposes, esp to allow a vehicle, horses, or men to pull a gun carriage
Etymology
Origin of trail rope
An Americanism dating back to 1840–50
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.
My blind roommate and I hook arms and help each other find the trail rope that sporadically disappears in places, and we make it there and back, triumphant.
From New York Times ● Sep. 14, 1454
As the waves came even closer to his perch, Joseph dumped the last of his sand ballast and busied himself cutting up his trail rope to throw that out piece by piece.
From Time Magazine Archive
From it depended the trail rope and grapnel, and over the sides of the car were a number of canvas bags that Bert decided must be ballast to "chuck down" if the balloon fell.
From The War in the Air by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Only when a trail rope dragging along the ground or sea is employed does the sail offer sufficient resistance to the wind to sway the balloon's course this way or that.
From Aircraft and Submarines The Story of the Invention, Development, and Present-Day Uses of War's Newest Weapons by Abbot, Willis J. (Willis John)
There was but one horse at the end of the trail rope.
From The Emigrant Trail by Bonner, Geraldine
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
