Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb Nautical To secure or make fast (a rope, for example) by winding on a cleat or pin.
- intransitive verb To provide security to (a climber) by paying out or drawing in rope, often through a braking device, in readiness to break a potential fall.
- intransitive verb To cause to stop.
- intransitive verb To be made secure.
- intransitive verb Used in the imperative as an order to stop.
- noun The act of belaying a climber.
- noun A system of ropes and anchors by which a climber is belayed.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To surround; environ; inclose.
- To overlay; adorn.
- To besiege; invest; surround.
- To lie in wait for in order to attack; hence, to block up or obstruct.
- Nautical, to fasten, or make fast, by winding round a belaying-pin, cleat, or cavel: applied chiefly to running rigging.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb obsolete To lay on or cover; to adorn.
- transitive verb (Naut.) To make fast, as a rope, by taking several turns with it round a pin, cleat, or kevel.
- transitive verb obsolete To lie in wait for with a view to assault. Hence: to block up or obstruct.
- transitive verb Stop.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive, obsolete To
surround ;environ ;inclose . - verb transitive, obsolete To
overlay ;adorn . - verb transitive, obsolete To
besiege ;invest ;surround . - verb transitive, obsolete To
lie in wait for in order to attack;block up orobstruct . - verb transitive To make (a
rope )fast byturning it round a fastening point such as acleat orpiton . - verb transitive To secure (a person) to a rope or (a rope) to a person.
- verb transitive To lay aside;
stop ;cancel . - verb intransitive, nautical The
general command tostop orcease . - verb intransitive, nautical To make a line fast by turns around a cleat, pin, or bitt.
- noun climbing The securing of a rope to a
rock or otherprojection . - noun climbing The
object to which a rope is secured. - noun climbing A location at which a climber stops and builds an anchor with which to secure his/or her partner.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb fasten a boat to a bitt, pin, or cleat
- noun something to which a mountain climber's rope can be secured
- verb turn a rope round an object or person in order to secure it or him
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Preferred primary anchor into a belay is a clove hitch or bite8 on the powerpoint - I prefer a clove for adjustability, sometimes using a purcell prusik as a second method to adjust my attitude to the anchor.
unknown title 2009
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Yet quite often such words, when they are verbs, were once of the common stock of the language, as in the case of "belay," and it has happened that the sailor alone has been left to keep them alive.
Waiting for Daylight 1915
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In comes the rope with a "Yo! heave ho!" and a jerk, until the "belay" sung out by the mate signifies that the work is done.
A Boy's Voyage Round the World Samuel Smiles 1858
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Care was taken, however, this time to make fast the halliard rope with a proper "belay"; and although Snowball might have deserved a caution to be more vigilant for the future, it was not deemed necessary to administer it, as it was thought the peril out of which they had so miraculously escaped would prove to him a sufficient reminder.
The Ocean Waifs A Story of Adventure on Land and Sea Mayne Reid 1850
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We didn't get to use words like "belay" or "glissade" but we felt victorious just the same.
Vail Daily - Top Stories Debbie Barnes Community correspondent Vail 2010
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Come to think it, don't be sayin '"belay," either.
unknown title 2009
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Come to think it, don't be sayin '"belay," either.
unknown title 2009
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It was a hot mid-August afternoon two weeks into the trip and one of my three NOLS instructors, Bean Bowers -- bad-ass, wise-cracking and always over-caffeinated -- chose me to belay him while he climbed.
Adrian Margaret Brune: Patagonia Climber Bean Bowers: 1973-2011, He Always Picked Himself -- And Others -- Up Again Adrian Margaret Brune 2011
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I refused, humiliated and ashamed that I even had the chutzpah to belay Bean, let alone allow him to fall on my watch.
Adrian Margaret Brune: Patagonia Climber Bean Bowers: 1973-2011, He Always Picked Himself -- And Others -- Up Again Adrian Margaret Brune 2011
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But just to be on the safe side and belay any possible future arguments I have recently purchased a mobile home in a trailer park.
chained_bear commented on the word belay
"'Boat your oars,' said Jack. 'Clap on to the halliard — no, the halliard. God's death — haul away. Bear a hand, Stephen. Belay. Catch a couple of turns round the kevel — the kevel.'
"The scow gave a violent lurch. Jack dropped all, scrambled forward, caught two turns round the kevel and slid back to the tiller. The sail filled, he brought the wind a little abaft the beam, and the scow headed out to sea.
"'You are cursed snappish tonight, Jack,' said Stephen. 'How do you expect me to understand your altumal cant, without pondering on it? I do not expect you to understand medical jargon, without giving you time to consider the etymology, for all love.'
"'Not to know the odds between a halliard and a sheet, after all these years at sea: it passes human understanding,' said Jack.
"'You are a reasonably civil, complaisant creature on dry land,' said Stephen, but the moment you are afloat you become pragmatical and absolute, a bashaw — do this, do that, gluppit the prawling strangles, there — no longer a social being at all. It is no doubt the effect of the long-continued habit of command; but it cannot be considered amiable.'
"Diana said nothing: she had a considerable experience and she knew that if men were to be at all tolerable they must be fed..."
--Patrick O'Brian, The Fortune of War, p. 272
February 6, 2008
bilby commented on the word belay
"Police have recovered the body of a man in his 70s after his car crashed into Melbourne's Yarra River. It is believed he lost control of the car while driving along Yarra Boulevard at Kew, crashing through a fence and down an embankment. It landed in the water 70 metres below.
Sergeant Simon Brand says getting access to the scene was difficult. '(It was a) very steep embankment,' he said. 'We actually had to rope belay the diver down to the water.'
- Driver's body recovered after Yarra River plunge, abc.net.au, 21 Nov 2011.
November 21, 2011
dailyword commented on the word belay
This word is used in Star Trek a lot.
June 21, 2012