tumpline

[tuhmp-lahyn]

noun

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

tumpline

/ ˈtʌmpˌlaɪn /

noun

1. Also called: tump. (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

Word History and Origins

Origin of tumpline¹

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) + line ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of tumpline¹

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

Example Sentences

DeJong is a big, burly, bearded Canadian, the kind of guy who wears wool plaid when it�s 90 degrees and still uses a tumpline.

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A tumpline is attached to the top of the knapsack straps.

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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.

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The water was so high that they could run most of the rapids, and stretches that they had formerly toiled up with tumpline or tracking-line they now covered with the speed of a bullet.

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Fred slipped the tumpline from his head, slung the sixty-pound pack on the ground, and sat down heavily on the pack.

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