Meanings
plural marlines
- A light all-purpose cord commonly used to bind the end of a larger rope, to prevent fraying.
1749 (Sunday 26th May), John Newton's journal A young man, who has been the whole voyage out of irons, first on account of a large ulcer, and since for his seeming good behaviour, gave them a large marline spike down the gratings, but was happily seen by one of the people.
- Twine used similarly.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo wind marline around.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*mer-
- Proto-Germanic*mairōną“to moor, fasten to”
- Middle Dutchmarlijn“cord”
- Middle Low Germanmarling
- Middle Englishmerlin
- Englishmarline
From Middle English merlin, from Middle Low German marling, from Middle Dutch marlijn (“cord”), from marlen (“secure, fasten”), frequentative of maren (“to moor”), from Proto-Germanic *mairōną (“to moor, fasten to”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer-.
More words from Middle English, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French lusin
- lusina light rope
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
marline. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/marline
“marline.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/marline. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “marline,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/marline.
Source: marline on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.