lanyard

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Nautical A short rope or gasket used for fastening something or securing rigging.
• noun A cord worn around the neck for carrying something, such as a knife or whistle.
• noun A cord with a hook at one end used to fire a cannon.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun Nautical, a small rope or cord used for certain purposes on board a ship.
• noun Milit., a piece of cord having a small hook at one end, nsed in firing cannon with a friction-primer.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun (Naut.) A short piece of rope or line for fastening something in ships; ; esp., pieces passing through the dead-eyes, and used to extend shrouds, stays, etc.
• noun (Mil.) A strong cord, about twelve feet long, with an iron hook at one end a handle at the other, used in firing cannon with a friction tube.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun nautical A short rope used for fastening rigging.
• noun A cord used to hold a small object such as a key, whistle, card, or knife, worn around the neck or wrist: a form of necklace or wristband.
• noun A cord with a hook; once used to fire artillery.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a cord worn around the neck to hold a knife or whistle
• noun a cord with an attached hook that is used to fire certain types of cannon
• noun (nautical) a line used for extending or fastening rigging on ships