cleat

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A strip of wood or iron used to strengthen or support the surface to which it is attached.
2. n. A projecting piece of metal or hard rubber attached to the underside of a shoe to provide traction.
3. n. A pair of shoes with such projections on the soles.
4. n. A piece of metal or wood having projecting arms or ends on which a rope can be wound or secured.
5. n. A wedge-shaped piece of material, such as wood, that is fastened onto something, such as a spar, to act as a support or prevent slippage.
6. n. A spurlike device used in gripping a tree or pole in climbing.
7. v. To supply, support, secure, or strengthen with a cleat.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. . The burdock.
2. n. Butter-bur.
3. n. . Nautical:
4. n. A piece of wood or iron consisting of a bar with arms, to which ropes are belayed.
5. n. A piece of wood nailed down to secure something from slipping.
6. n. A piece of iron fastened under a shoe to preserve the sole.
7. n. A piece of wood nailed on transversely to a piece of joinery for the purpose of securing it in its proper position or of strengthening it.
8. n. A strip nailed or otherwise secured across a board, post, etc., for any purpose, as for supporting the end of a shelf.
9. n. A trunnion-bracket on a gun-carriage.
10. To strengthen with a cleat or cleats.
11. n. In coalmining, the principal set of cleavage-planes by which the coal is divided. Bituminous coal is more or less distinctly stratified—that is, divided by planes parallel to the bedding of the rocks above and beneath it. It is also almost always divided into thin layers by two sets of joint-planes nearly at right angles to each other and to the bedding. Of these two sets one is usually more distinct, and this is called the cleat. The surfaces exposed in mining on the line of this cleat, which are in reality joint-planes of the coal, are called faces and backs. Called in England board.

Wiktionary

1. n. A strip of wood or iron fastened on transversely to something in order to give strength, prevent warping, hold position, etc.
2. n. A continuous metal strip, or angled piece, used to secure metal components.
3. n. nautical A device to quickly affix a line or rope, and from which it is also easy to release.
4. n. A protrusion on the bottom of a shoe meant for better traction. (See cleats.)
5. v. To strengthen with a cleat.
6. v. nautical To tie off, affix, stopper a line or rope, especially to a cleat

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Carp.) A strip of wood or iron fastened on transversely to something in order to give strength, prevent warping, hold position, etc.
2. n. (Naut.) A device made of wood or metal, having two arms, around which turns may be taken with a line or rope so as to hold securely and yet be readily released. It is bolted by the middle to a deck or mast, etc., or it may be lashed to a rope.
3. v. To strengthen with a cleat.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. secure on a cleat
2. n. a fastener (usually with two projecting horns) around which a rope can be secured
3. n. a strip of wood or metal used to strengthen the surface to which it is attached
4. n. a metal or leather projection (as from the sole of a shoe); prevents slipping
5. v. provide with cleats