clove-hitch Naut.
[f. clove pa. pple. + hitch.]
A ‘hitch’ or mode of simply fastening a rope round a spar, etc., formed by passing the rope twice round in such a way that both ends pass under the centre part of the loop in front; it thus appears united into one loop in front and ‘cloven’ into two parallel lines at the back.
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) H h 3 b, They are..attached by a knot, called a clove-hitch, to..the shrouds. 1875 Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. viii. (ed. 2) 303 If..the dislocation takes place at the shoulder joint, a clove hitch by towel should be applied above the elbow joint. |
| fig. 1883 Stevenson Treasure Isl. iii. xv. (1886) 123 ‘You're all in a clove hitch, aint you?’ |
Hence
clove-hitch v.| 1875 Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. viii. (ed. 2) 304 While a towel is clove-hitched above the elbow joint. 1882 Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 65 A pair of bellropes clove-hitched on the bight round the mast-head. |