Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Nautical A rope attached to the weather leech of a square sail to hold the leech forward when sailing close-hauled.
- n. A knot forming a loop that does not slip.
- idiom. on a bowline Nautical Close-hauled.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Nautical, a rope leading forward and fastened to the leech of a square sail. It is used to steady the weather-leech of the sail and keep it forward, and thus to make the ship sail nearer the wind.
- n. In ship-building, a curve representing a vertical section of the bow-end of a ship.
Wiktionary
- n. nautical a knot tied so as to produce an eye or loop in the end of a rope; it will not slip or jam
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Naut.) A rope fastened near the middle of the leech or perpendicular edge of the square sails, by subordinate ropes, called
bridles , and used to keep the weather edge of the sail tight forward, when the ship is closehauled.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a loop knot that neither slips nor jams
Etymologies
- Middle English bouline, probably from Middle Danish bovline or Middle Low German bōlīne, both from Middle Low German bōch līne : bōch, bow, line (from Latin līnea; see line1). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Just that fast, with one hand, there was a friggin 'bowline in the middle of it.”
Knot Reference Wallet Card Keeps Your Knot Knowledge Fresh | Lifehacker Australia
“The bowline is great but only if you need a loop that won't slip.”
“It was not that rare of a knot, but the bowline was the common preference.”
“Do you know whether Mr Oliver would know that a bowline was a safe knot to use?”
“The bowline was the last to be secured, and Pilar turned to watch the forward deckhand sprinting across the barges to the stern.”
“He knows, as if by instinct, what sort of knot should be used for this, and what sort for the other -- whether a "reef-knot" or a "bowline," a”
“bowline," or slip-noose, was also passed out to the bowsprit end, being held there by one man in readiness.”
The Cruise of the Cachalot Round the World After Sperm Whales
“B'sides, for the tie-down application he shows on the next page, he really should be using an in-line figure 8 or the bowline.”
Knot Reference Wallet Card Keeps Your Knot Knowledge Fresh | Lifehacker Australia
“I don't know how many times I have forgotten how to tie a simple bowline. freeman70 vidar378”
Knot Reference Wallet Card Keeps Your Knot Knowledge Fresh | Lifehacker Australia
“From there you can actually do a bowline by inserting the working end into the slipped loop and capsizing it, and if you use a different rope and the aforementioned trick, it's sheet bend.”
Knot Reference Wallet Card Keeps Your Knot Knowledge Fresh | Lifehacker Australia
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘bowline’.
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phrontistery - b
List of words from phrontistery.info
bywoner, byssus, byssiferous, byssaceous, byrnie, butyric, butyraceous, buttery, buteonine, bunting, burdet, broma and 582 more...
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Some Ship-building Terms
Ship builders' terms, from stem to stern (these words aren't on the list).
lay, ram, rib, ribband, round-up, shelf, beam, deck-beam, shore, sny, spale, sponson and 248 more...
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Knots!
O time, thou must untangle this, not I.
It is too hard a knot for me to untie.
-- Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 2, scene 2figure eight, cat's paw, fisherman's knot, miller's knot, tiller's hitch, chain hitch, surgeon's knot, bowline on bight, sailor's knot, stevedore's knot, timber hitch, clove hitch and 148 more...
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colleen's words ii
sibilant, sundry, spindle, distaff, device, mortar, pestle, scythe, flail, thresh, frown, elementary and 495 more...
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Test-words
rarefy, occlude, bolt, lambaste, career, careen, largesse, enormity, neologism, quizzical, sibyl, euphony and 105 more...
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Turning and Twisting Tours
words in the nature of double spirals
swift, swerve, swirl, swivel, swarm, swag, swank, swoop, swinge, swarf, spire, esparto and 361 more...
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A River Runs Through It
Words and phrases from A River Runs Through It, & Other Stories by Norman Maclean.
gyppo, carborundum, railroader, prat, nemo me impune la..., manse, rune, underskin, dairymaid, angleworm, snoot, scarifying and 32 more...
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Luddite's Words
luddite, dilettante, ouroboros, gazebo, iterative, icarus, incidentally, ambrosial, you, i, inasmuch, nevertheless and 24 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for bowline.
reesetee A loop knot used by boaters to make a secure loop at the end of a rope. It doesn't slip or bind under load and can be untied easily with no load. Two bowlines can be linked together to join two ropes. Jan 8, 2008