▪ I. marline, n. Naut.
(ˈmɑːlɪn)
Forms: 5 marlyne, 6 marlyn, 6–8 marlin, 7 merlin, (martling), 7–8 merline, 7– marling, marline.
[Perh. two synonymous words have been confused: marline a. Du. marlijn (f. marren to bind + lijn line n.) and marling ? a. Du. marling vbl. n. f. marl v.2 (= Du. marlen) + -ing1. The two words seem to have been confused already in Du. Cf. MLG. merlink, marlink (mod.LG. marlink); the word has passed into other langs. as Sw., Da. merling (also Sw. merla, Da. merle), Fr., Sp. merlin, Pg. merlim.]
Small line of two strands, used for seizings.
| 1485 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 70 Canuas..j bolte, Saile twyne..vi lb, Marlyne..vi lb. 1558 in Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees No. 2) 167, xijIb of marlyn iiijs. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. v. 25 Marling is a small line of vntwisted hemp, very pliant and well tarred, to sease the ends of Ropes from raueling out,..if the Saile rent out of the Boltrope, they will make it fast with marlin till they haue leisure to mend it. 1666 Dryden Ann. Mirab. cxlviii, Some the galled ropes with dawby marling bind. 1723 Trial Pyrates taken by Capt. Ogle 31 He..was down seeing and ordering her Sails out on board the Pyrate, in particular some Marling and Housling. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine ii. (1780), Merlin, marline, or merline. 1886 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 604/1 Marling, soft⁓laid white line for securing sails to the bolt-rope. |
▪ II. ˈmarline, v. rare—0.
[f. prec.: perh. a mere error.]
trans. = marl v.2 2.
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), To Marling a Sail. [A misapprehension of quot. 1704 under marl v.2 2.] 1721 Bailey, To Marline a Sail. 1828 in Webster; and in later Dicts. |