devil's rope

English

Cylindropuntia imbricata

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Noun

devil's rope (countable and uncountable, plural devil's ropes)

1. Mortal sin.
   • 2008, Preaching in the Age of Chaucer: Selected Sermons in Translation, →ISBN, page 29:

     ...those who are dragged to the gallows of hell by the devil's rope, that is, mortal sin, and will not confess.

2. An open branching shrub (Cylindropuntia imbricata) with cylindrical joints, which are covered with short raised ridges like the plait of a rope.
3. A variety of cochineal, (Dactylopius newsteadi), used to destroy Cylindropuntia imbricata.
4. (US, southwest, slang) Barbed wire
   • 2011, Linh Dinh, Love Like Hate: A Novel, →ISBN, page 94:

     The devil's rope was originally designed to keep cows from roaming, Indians from encroaching, and the cowboys from singing their lonesome ballads.