Marline
Marline , noun
[LG. marlien, marling, or Dutch marling, marlijn, from Dutch marren to tie, prob. akin to English moor, v., and lijn line: compareF. merlin. See Moor, v., Line.]
(Nautical) A small line composed of two strands a little twisted, used for winding around ropes and cables, to prevent their being weakened by fretting.
Collocations (2)
Marline spike or Marling spike (Nautical) , an iron tool tapering to a point, used to separate the strands of a rope in splicing and in marling. It has an eye in the thick end to which a lanyard is attached. See Fid.
Marline-spike bird (Zoology) , (a) A tropic bird. (b) A jager, or skua gull.
Marline , transitive verb
[French merliner.]
(Nautical) To wind marline around; as, to marline a rope.