Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Nautical A pointed metal spike, used to separate strands of rope or wire in splicing.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Nautical, a pointed iron implement used to separate the strands of rope in splicing, and as a lever in putting on seizings, etc. Also written marlinspike and marlingspike.
- n. A jäger, a species of Stercorarius: so called (by sailors) from the long pointed middle tail-feathers.
Wiktionary
- n. A tool, consisting of a pointed metal spike, used to manipulate the strands of rope or cable when splicing
WordNet 3.0
- n. a pointed iron hand tool that is used to separate strands of a rope or cable (as in splicing)
Examples
“She took two long steps and seized the marlinespike, yanking it off the desk in a shower of rubbish and clanging oddments.”
“A piece of wood showed among the rubble on the desk, the blunt end of a marlinespike.”
“She kept hold of the marlinespike, but her wrists quivered, and she lowered it.”
“For every thumb was a marlinespike and every finger a fid”
“Ronica nodded at Rache, but did not put down the marlinespike.”
“It had been Captain Vestrit's conceit to keep a marlinespike on the corner of his desk.”
“Brashen had once worked on a ship where the mate was a bit too free with his marlinespike.”
“Everything from tobacco sacks and cigarette papers to a spare cinch and a rope, from a change of clothes to a picture of his family or his girl, from old letters and reading material to a marlinespike, was kept in it.”
“He did so, and had it not been that a writ of Habeas Corpus was immediately sworn out, the Deptford tailor would most certainly have exchanged his needle for a marlinespike.”
“Its maker named it a knife; as a matter of fact, the knife part was worthless; but snugly and cunningly fitted into the stout buckhorn handle was a serviceable file, a hacksaw, and a marlinespike.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘marlinespike’.
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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some words
phatic, macerate, amanuenses, theophagy, seraglio, gloaming, geophagy, metaphone, anastrophe, neologism, tetragrammaton, bête noire and 568 more...
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whaling terms
Terms defined in the glossary of Clifford W. Ashley's "Yankee Whaler".
advance, adze, after house, after oar, agent, air up, alow, ambergris, apeak, article, away, bailer and 299 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for marlinespike.
chained_bear Hm. I always thought this was spelled marlinspike. Feb 27, 2008
john "A pointed iron or steel hand tool carried by deck hands (Boatswain’s Mates particularly.) Normally no shorter than 6 inches and no longer than 18, marline spikes are used in various shipboard tasks including separating the strands of line and prying open diverse shipboard containers. Marlinespikes are also used as screwdrivers, hammers, paint-chippers, eating utensils, or tea and coffee-stirrers."
- rubbermice.com Feb 27, 2008