marline : Idioms & Phrases
Marline spike , Marling spike
(Naut.) , an iron tool tapering to a point, used to separate the strands of a rope in splicing and in marling. It has an eye in the thick end to which a lanyard is attached. SeeFid .Written also marlin spike
Webster 1913
Marline-spike bird
- .
The name alludes to the long middle tail feathers. (Zoöl.) (a) A tropic bird.(b) A jager, or skua gull.