from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
noun A pointed metal spike, used to separate strands of rope or wire in splicing.
from The Century Dictionary.
noun Nautical, a pointed iron implement used to separate the strands of rope in splicing, and as a lever in putting on seizings, etc. Also written marlinspike and marlingspike.
noun A jäger, a species of Stercorarius: so called (by sailors) from the long pointed middle tail-feathers.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
noun A tool, consisting of a pointed metal spike, used to manipulate the strands of rope or cable when splicing
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
noun a pointed iron hand tool that is used to separate strands of a rope or cable (as in splicing)
Etymologies
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Examples
A piece of wood showed among the rubble on the desk, the blunt end of a marlinespike.
Everything from tobacco sacks and cigarette papers to a spare cinch and a rope, from a change of clothes to a picture of his family or his girl, from old letters and reading material to a marlinespike, was kept in it.
Everything from tobacco sacks and cigarette papers to a spare cinch and a rope, from a change of clothes to a picture of his family or his girl, from old letters and reading material to a marlinespike, was kept in it.
He did so, and had it not been that a writ of Habeas Corpus was immediately sworn out, the Deptford tailor would most certainly have exchanged his needle for a marlinespike.
"A pointed iron or steel hand tool carried by deck hands (Boatswain’s Mates particularly.) Normally no shorter than 6 inches and no longer than 18, marline spikes are used in various shipboard tasks including separating the strands of line and prying open diverse shipboard containers. Marlinespikes are also used as screwdrivers, hammers, paint-chippers, eating utensils, or tea and coffee-stirrers."
john commented on the word marlinespike
"A pointed iron or steel hand tool carried by deck hands (Boatswain’s Mates particularly.) Normally no shorter than 6 inches and no longer than 18, marline spikes are used in various shipboard tasks including separating the strands of line and prying open diverse shipboard containers. Marlinespikes are also used as screwdrivers, hammers, paint-chippers, eating utensils, or tea and coffee-stirrers."
- rubbermice.com
February 27, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word marlinespike
Hm. I always thought this was spelled marlinspike.
February 27, 2008