ˈsnatch-block
Also snatchblock, snatch block.
[snatch- a.]
A block having a hole in one side to receive the bight of a rope.
| a 1625 Nomenclator Navalis (MS. Harl. 2301), Snatch block is a greate Block with the Sheever in it and a Notch cutt through one of the Cheeks of it by which Notch they reeve anie Roape into it. [Hence in Harris, Chambers's Cycl. Suppl., etc.] 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) s.v. Block, A snatch-block; a top-block; a voyal-block [etc.]. 1793 Trans. Soc. Arts XI. 173 Passing through proper snatch⁓blocks. 1839 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. II. 97/2 A car..is suspended to the top round of the ladder by means of a chain passing over a pulley of a snatch block. 1886 R. C. Leslie Sea Painter's Log 145 This line, when the boat is launched, passes through..a snatch-block. |