tumpline
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
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) + line 1
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.
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.
From Northern Diamonds by Pollock, Frank Lillie
Fred slipped the tumpline from his head, slung the sixty-pound pack on the ground, and sat down heavily on the pack.
From Northern Diamonds by Pollock, Frank Lillie
Towline and pole, paddle and tumpline, rapids and portages—such tortures served to give the one a deep disgust for great hazards, and printed for the other a fiery text on the true romance of adventure.
From The Son of the Wolf by London, Jack
Fred uttered a wild shout, slipped the tumpline from his head, and ran forward.
From Northern Diamonds by Pollock, Frank Lillie
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.
From Camp and Trail by White, Stewart Edward
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.
