ˈridge-rope
[ridge n.1]
1. dial. = ridge-band.
| 1611 Cotgr., Surselle, a broad and great band,..fastened on either side of a thill, and bearing vpon the..saddle... About London it is called the Ridge-rope. 1854 [see ridger 1]. |
2. Naut. (See quots. 1769 and 1867.)
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780), Sauve-gardes, the ridge-ropes which extend the nettings of a ship's head. 1846 Young Naut. Dict., Ridge-ropes (or Man-ropes). 1857 Ld. Dufferin Lett. High Lat. (ed. 3) 22, I, guessing we were in for it, sent down the topmasts,..rove the ridge-ropes, and reefed all down. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Ridge⁓ropes are of various kinds. Thus the centre-rope of an awning, and those along the rigging to which it is stretched, the man-ropes to the bowsprit, safety lines from gun to gun in bad weather—all obtain this name. |