Etymology

halyard

H4A1L1Y4A1R1D2

Today it means: A rope used to raise or lower a sail, flag, spar or yard. Full definition →

Middle English halier
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The story

  1. Middle English · inherited fromhalier
  2. English todayhalyard

Inherited from Middle English halier, from halen (“to haul”) + -iere (“-er”), with misconstrual of -ier as yard. Compare lanyard.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.