Belayed

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Attached or secured a rope to hold someone or something firmly for safety
2. To fix a rope firmly so it can support weight or prevent falling
3. Secured by fastening a rope, typically used in climbing or sailing contexts

Etymology: "Belayed" is the past form of "belay," and the verb's most surprising twist is that it once meant almost the opposite of tying a rope. Its Old English ancestor, "beleċġan," meant "to cover, surround, afflict, or charge with," so the sense of wrapping or enclosing came first. Its roots are simply "be-," meaning "about" or "around," and "lay," meaning to place or set down, so the idea is of laying something around something else. The rope meaning developed from that wrapping sense. A line was wound around a belaying pin or cleat, the wooden or metal post on a ship, to hold it fast, and "to belay" came to mean securing a rope in exactly that way. The same notion of covering or wrapping survives in the cognates: Dutch "beleggen" and German "belegen" both carry senses of covering and laying over, with the rope sense appearing in the same family.

Synonyms: secured, fastened

Antonyms: released