tumpline

[ tuhmp-lahyn ]

noun

a strap or sling passed around the chest or forehead to help support a pack carried on a person's back.

Origin of tumpline

1790–1800; tump (earlier mattump,metomp<Southern New England Algonquian <proto-Eastern Algonquian *mat- empty root appearing in names of manufactured objects + *-a·pəy string) + line¹

Words Nearby tumpline

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use tumpline in a sentence

One night one of them ate a piece out of my tumpline, which was partially under my head, while I slept.
The Long Labrador Trail | Dillon Wallace
This is known as a tumpline, and consists of a band of leather to cross the head, and two long thongs to secure the pack.
Camp and Trail | Stewart Edward White

British Dictionary definitions for tumpline

tumpline

/ (ˈtʌmpˌlaɪn) /

noun

(in the US and Canada, esp formerly) a leather or cloth band strung across the forehead or chest and attached to a pack or load in order to support it: Also called: tump

Origin of tumpline

C19: from tump, of Algonquian origin + line 1; compare Abnaki mádǔmbi pack strap

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

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