marline

noun

1. A light all-purpose cord commonly used to bind the end of a larger rope, to prevent fraying.

   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.

   1749 (Sunday 26th May), John Newton's journal

2. Twine used similarly.

Where it comes from

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-.

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry marline (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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