Meanings
plural handlines
- A firefighting hose held and directed by a team of people.
present singular third person handlines · participle present handlining · participle past handlined · past handlined
- fishingTo fish with a single fishing line held in the hands.
1 more example
But they remember fishing into the winter. “Christ,” says Bernard, “out there handlining in the snow. You’d come in numb. We didn’t have these modern clothes. Just wool. Or if they had them, we didn’t know.” “No,” said Leonard, “they weren’t there.” “Christ, it was cold.” “We didn’t have any choices.” “Couldn’t even put this much salt beef in.” The conversation turns to a favorite Newfoundland topic, how unhealthy their diet is. Traditional Newfoundland food is based on pork fat. Everything is cooked in it and then seasoned with scrunchions—rendered, diced fatback. “Good for the arteries,” Bernard says with a laugh.
1997, Mark Kurlansky, “Prologue: Sentry on the Headlands (So Close to Ireland)”, in Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, Walker, →ISBN
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Cite this entry
handline. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/handline
“handline.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/handline. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “handline,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/handline.
Source: handline on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.