Meanings
nounsalt eel (plural salt eels)
plural salt eels
- An end piece of a rope cut off to be used as a whip.
You mistress Jones, I'll break your bones If thus you mutiny. Here's a salt eel, which you soon shall feel, Unless you soon agree.
c. 1694, Henry Purcell, Edward Ravenscroft, “Good neighbour, why?”, in The Canterbury Guests; or, A Bargain, Broken, [Act III, scene v]1 more example
Up betimes, and with my salt eel went down in the parler and there got my boy and did beat him till I was fain to take breath two or three times …
April 24, 1663, Samuel Pepys, Diary of Samuel Pepys - broadlyA punishment by whipping.
Cite this entry
APA
salt eel. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/salt%20eel
MLA
“salt eel.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/salt%20eel. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “salt eel,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/salt%20eel.
Source: salt eel on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.