marlinspikes

By the lord, Flask, I had no sooner said that, than he turned round his stern to me, bent over, and dragging up a lot of seaweed he had for a clout — what do you think, I saw? — why thunder alive, man, his stern was stuck full of marlinspikes, with the points out.

Moby Dick; or the Whale 2002

He was right; as we crept cautiously out of the tavern door, two men materialized beside Jared-his own seamen, armed with pistols and marlinspikes-but no one else noticed our appearance.

Dragonfly in Amber Gabaldon, Diana 1992

He dug around my rumbling molars with drawing-knives and burglars 'tools, and cross-cut saws and patent rollers, and marlinspikes and two-foot rules.

Rippling Rhymes Walt Mason

Every Sunday they performed on each other the operation of manipulating the pendulous ornaments, straightening them out like magnified marlinspikes, and binding them with ribbons or rope-yarns, tastily fastened at the extremity by a double bow knot.

Jack in the Forecastle or, Incidents in the Early Life of Hawser Martingale John Sherburne Sleeper

For a moment, Spunyarn seems half inclined to grasp Tom by his collarless coat and shake the hydrophobia, as he calls it, out of him; then, as if incited by a second thought, he draws from his shirt-bosom a large, wooden comb, and humming a tune commences combing and fussing over Tom's hair, which stands erect over his head like marlinspikes.

An Outcast or, Virtue and Faith

He dug around my rumbling molars with drawing-knives and burglars 'tools, and cross-cut saws and patent rollers, and marlinspikes and two-foot rules.

Rippling Rhymes Walt Mason

From marlinspikes to pocketknives, every man held some sort of a weapon.

Harrigan Max Brand 1918

The boatswain, climbing up with marlinspikes and bunches of spunyarn rovings, or kneeling on the yard and ready to take a turn with the midship-stop, had acute and fleeting visions of his old woman and the youngsters in a moorland village.

The Nigger of the Narcissus 1897

Second-hand watches, marlinspikes, compasses, spoons, books, boxes, and curiosities crowded the narrow space, in the midst of which the shrivelled old lady who called herself proprietress was scarcely visible.

Roger Ingleton, Minor Talbot Baines Reed 1872

Then comes the captain with the articles of war in his hand, looking marlinspikes, and calls poor Paddy.

Three Weeks in the Downs, or Conjugal Fidelity Rewarded: exemplified in the Narrative of Helen and Edmund Anonymous 1829