Cordage Meaning
/ˈkɔːdɪdʒ/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounCord (of any type) when viewed as a mass or commodity.
nounA set of ropes and cords, especially that used for a ship's rigging.
Sentence Examples
The cordage on the ship was worn.
Cordage is used for sailing vessels.
The sailors checked the strength of the ship's cordage.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ship had plenty of ____ for securing the cargo.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ on the ship was worn.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree French cordagebor. English cordage Borrowed from French cordage.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"So Juan stood, bewildered on the deck: / The wind sung, cordage strained, and sailors swore […]"
— 1819 July 15, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, canto II, stanza 13:
"[…] as the old craft deep dived into the green seas, and sent the shivering frost all over her, and the winds howled, and the cordage rang […]"
— 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 22”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
"Boatswain Marsham fell to work overhauling the bolts of sail-cloth and the hanks of cordage and the coils of rope, till he had found a new foresail and laid it under the hatch, and had placed great ropes and such cordage as headlines and marlines and sennets so that a man could lay hands on them in a time of haste and confusion."
— 1923, Charles Boardman Hawes, The Dark Frigate, Chapter 8:
"A lone river wind sighed in the cordage of the ship."
— 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 151:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ship had plenty of ____ for securing the cargo.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ on the ship was worn.