lanyard
(ˈlænjəd)
Forms: α. 5 lanȝer, 5–6, 9 dial. lanyer, 7 lannier, 9 dial. lanner. β. 7 lanyeard, lennerd, 7–9 lan(n)iard, 8 erron. land yard, 8– lanyard.
[A re-adoption of F. lanière (see lainer).]
† 1. = lainer. Obs.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 208/1 A lanȝer, ligula. 1530 Palsgr. 237/2 Lanyer of lether, lasniere. 1787 Marshall Norfolk (1795) II. 383 Lanniard, the thong of a whip. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Lanner, Lanyer, the lash of a whip. |
2. Naut. ‘A short piece of rope or line made fast to anything to secure it, or as a handle’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.). a. Used to secure the shrouds and stays.
| 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Sea-men 15 They haue all of them pullies,..Lanyeards, caskets, and crowes feete. 1627 ― Seaman's Gram. v. 19 Those Lanniers are many small Ropes reeued into the dead mens eyes of all shrouds. 1709 Lond. Gaz. No. 4543/1 Having..cut all the Land yards of the Falmouth's Fore and Mizen-shrowds. 1748 Anson's Voy. i. x. 104 We exerted ourselves the best we could..to reeve new lanyards. 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle (1862) 347 A hammock, slung..by two lanyards fastened to rings. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast Gloss., Lanyards, ropes rove through the dead-eyes, for setting up rigging. 1881 Sir T. Martin Horace i. xiv, Dost thou not..hear thy lanyards moan and shriek? |
b. Used for firing a gun.
| 1825 H. B. Gascoigne Nav. Fame 95 Captains of the guns their Laniards bear. 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy xxx, The captains of the guns had dropped their lanyards in disappointment. 1861 W. H. Russell in Times 10 July, The gunner pulled the lanyard hard, but the tube did not explode. 1876 Daily News 30 Sept. 2/2 The artillerymen would..have no objection to firing the gun themselves with a lanyard. |
c. Used for various other purposes.
| 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. 17 Stand by to hawl off above the Lennerd of the Whipstaff. 1797 Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1845) II. 417 Four ladders, (each of which to have a lanyard four fathoms long). 1864 Reader 8 Oct. 454 A small knife lashed with a lanyard to the wrist. 1883 Stevenson Treas. Isl. ii. x, He carried his crutch by a lanyard round his neck. 1897 R. Kipling Capt. Cour. 76 The lanyard of a bell that hung just behind the windlass. |
d. The material of which lanyards are made.
| 1862 Times 7 Mar., A packing of lanyard [was] put between the armour plates and screw nuts. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 24 Tarred Russian Hemp Laniard. |