trail rope
Americannoun
noun
-
another name for dragrope
-
a long rope formerly used for various military purposes, esp to allow a vehicle, horses, or men to pull a gun carriage
Etymology
Origin of trail rope
An Americanism dating back to 1840–50
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
My blind roommate and I hook arms and help each other find the trail rope that sporadically disappears in places, and we make it there and back, triumphant.
From New York Times • Sep. 14, 1454
As the waves came even closer to his perch, Joseph dumped the last of his sand ballast and busied himself cutting up his trail rope to throw that out piece by piece.
From Time Magazine Archive
![]()
The balloon was to be kept near the earth, and steered, as far as this might be practicable, by means of a trail rope.
From The Dominion of the Air; the story of aerial navigation by Bacon, John Mackenzie
Suppose, however, that as soon as the side sail is hoisted a trail rope is also dropped aft from a spar in the rigging.
From The Dominion of the Air; the story of aerial navigation by Bacon, John Mackenzie
The big wagon had already crossed when David on Bess, with Ben at the end of a trail rope, started into the stream.
From The Emigrant Trail by Bonner, Geraldine
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.