Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In pathology, a bluish mark at the edge of the gums occurring in eases of lead-poisoning.
  • noun In lumbering, a wire rope, with an eye at each end, used to anchor the snatch-block in setting a lead.
  • noun The line attached to a sounding-lead, used in measuring the depth of water. See lead, 2.
  • noun A heavy leaded or weighted line attached to the bottom of a net, as a seine, and used to sink it.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The man at the helm and the man with the lead-line fell backwards into the boat.

    The Mysterious Island 2005

  • And the sailor sounded with a long cord, which served him as a lead-line, and to which was fastened a lump of iron.

    The Mysterious Island 2005

  • It could now be seen that one of the convicts held a lead-line in his hand, and that he wished to fathom the depth of the channel hollowed out by the current of the

    The Mysterious Island 2005

  • And the sailor sounded with a long cord, which served him as a lead-line, and to which was fastened a lump of iron.

    The Mysterious Island 2005

  • It could now be seen that one of the convicts held a lead-line in his hand, and that he wished to fathom the depth of the channel hollowed out by the current of the

    The Mysterious Island 2005

  • The man at the helm and the man with the lead-line fell backwards into the boat.

    The Mysterious Island 2005

  • Cape of Good Hope, we could get no bottom with our lead-line of thirty-five fathoms.

    A Popular Account of Dr. Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi and Its Tributaries 2004

  • The gulf has become a lake, but it is also an abyss, and no lead-line has yet sounded its depths.

    In Search of the Castaways 2003

  • Wilson seized the lead-line, sprang to the fore-chains, and threw the lead; the rope ran out between his fingers, at the third knot the lead stopped.

    In Search of the Castaways 2003

  • Taking the lead-line, he headed straight for the broken wall.

    The Bloody Crown of Conan Howard, Robert E. 2003

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