belaying pin

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A short, removable wooden or metal pin fitted in a hole in the rail of a boat and used for securing rigging lines.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun a wooden or iron pin to which running rigging may be belayed.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• (Naut.) A strong pin in the side of a vessel, or by the mast, round which ropes are wound when they are fastened or belayed.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun nautical Any of the short lengths of wood, iron or brass set up in convenient places on a ship to secure running rigging.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a wood or metal bar to which a rope can be secured (as on a ship or in mountain climbing)