Rattlines

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A network of small ropes or lines on a ship's rigging that allows crew members to climb and access the masts
2. Vertical lines on a sailing vessel's rigging, providing footholds for movement between levels of the mast
3. A series of horizontal ropes or lines attached to the mask of a ship, serving as ladders for sailors to ascend and maintain sails

Etymology: Rattlines are the thin cross-ropes strung between the shrouds of a sailing ship, forming a ladder that sailors climbed to reach the upper rigging. The plural form is the one most readers meet, since a single ship carries many of them, and the singular "rattline" refers to any one of these lines. The word is a plural of "rattline", so its history is that of the singular, which names the individual rope. Its precise origin and early record in English are not given here, so the most that can be said is that it belongs to the specialised vocabulary of the sailing rig, where a precise name for each small rope was essential to the crew.