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marlinspike. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
marlinspike, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
marlinspike in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
From marline + spike.
Noun
marlinspike (plural marlinspikes)
- A tool, consisting of a pointed metal spike, used to manipulate the strands of rope or cable when knotting and splicing.
1924, Herman Melville, chapter 12, in Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co.:[…] the afterguard, of whom they have but a sorry opinion, chiefly landsmen, never going aloft except to reef or furl the mainsail and in no wise competent to handle a marlinspike or turn in a dead-eye, say.
1962, Robert Hayden, “Middle Passage”, in David Lehman, editor, The Oxford Book of American Poetry, Oxford University Press, published 2006, page 585:There was / that interval of moonless calm filled only / with the water's and the rigging's usual sounds, / then sudden movement, blows and snarling cries / and they had fallen on us with machete / and marlinspike.
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