marlinspike

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun a pointed iron hand tool that is used to separate strands of a rope or cable (as in splicing)

From marline + spike.

Do you want a kick?’ By the lord, Flask, I had no sooner said that, than he turned round his stern to me, bent over, and dragging up a lot of seaweed he had for a clout—what do you think, I saw?—why thunder alive, man, his stern was stuck full of marlinspikes, with the points out. — Moby Dick; Or, The Whale, Herman Melville
About two hours after this melancholy accident happened, as I enjoyed the cool air on the quarter-deck, I heard a voice rising, as it were, out of the sea and calling, “Ho, the ship ahoy!” Upon which one of the men upon the forecastle cried, “I’ll be d—n’d if that an’t Jack Marlinspike, who went overboard!” Not a little surprised at this event, I jumped into the boat that lay alongside, with the second mate and four men, and rowing towards the place from whence the voice (which repeated the hail) seemed to proceed, we perceived something floating upon the water. — The Adventures of Roderick Random, T. (Tobias) Smollett

marlinespike, marlingspike

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