Link Centre Dictionary

ratline

rat·line

UK/ˈɹætlɪn/ uncommon

noun

1.

(nautical) a small horizontal rope between the shrouds of a sailing ship; they form a ladder for climbing aloft

Synonyms

Origin

Apparently a corruption of raddling by folk-etymological reanalysis as rat + line.

Phrases

  • ratline stuff

Related words

Broader terms

Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.