gantline

English

Noun

gantline (plural gantlines)

1. (nautical) A line rigged to a mast, used to hoist rigging.

   Synonym: girtline

   • 1909, William Hope Hodgson, The Ghost Pirates, Chapter IV:

     A moment later, I saw the man's head appear over the top. He had the tail-block slung round his neck, and the end of the gantline over his shoulder.

   • 1913, John Masefield, Dauber (poem):

     He drew deep breath; a gantline swayed aloft
     A lower topsail, hard with rope and leather,
     Such as men's frozen fingers fight with oft
     Below the Ramirez in Cape Hom weather.

   • 1914, Joseph Conrad, chapter 4, in The Niger of Narkissos:

     “Now then — to the main topsail now! Tally on to that gantline. Don't stand about there!”

See also

• halyard

References

• “gantline”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• intangle, latening