clothesline

See also: clothes line

English

clothes on clotheslines

Alternative forms

• clothes line (UK)

Etymology

clothes +‎ line

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: klōthz'līn, IPA^(key): /ˈkləʊðzlaɪn/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (US) enPR: klōthz'līn, IPA^(key): /ˈkloʊðzlaɪn/

Noun

clothesline (plural clotheslines)

1. A rope or cord tied up outdoors to hang clothes on so they can dry.

   Synonym: washing line

   Coordinate term: clotheshorse

   Hang this towel out on the clothesline for me.

2. A structure with multiple cords for the same purpose, such as a Hills hoist.
3. (Canada, US, informal) The act of knocking a person over by striking his or her upper body or neck with one's arm, as if he or she had run into a low clothesline.

Related terms

• clotheshorse
• clothes peg

 

Translations

rope or cord for drying clothes

• Azerbaijani: zivə
• Bikol Central: balaybayan, sablayan (bcl)
• Catalan: estenedor (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 曬衣繩／晒衣绳 (zh) (shàiyīshéng), 晾衣繩／晾衣绳 (liàngyīshéng)

• Danish: tøjsnor c, tørresnor (da) c
• Dutch: wasdraad (nl) m, waslijn (nl) f
• Finnish: pyykkinaru (fi)
• French: corde à linge (fr)
• Galician: tendal m, tarandeira f
• Georgian: სამკერვალო (samḳervalo)
• German: Wäscheleine (de) f
• Greek: σκοινί για άπλωμα ρούχων (skoiní gia áploma roúchon)
• Hebrew: חבל-כביסה m (khevel-kvisa)
• Hungarian: szárítókötél (hu), ruhaszárító kötél
• Icelandic: þvottasnúra f, snúra f
• Irish: líne éadaigh f
• Italian: linea di vestiti
• Japanese: 物干し綱 (ものほしづな, monohoshi-zuna), 物干し (ものほし, monohoshi) (general term for rack, rod, or line)
• Kazakh: киім сызығы (kiım syzyğy)
• Kyrgyz: кийим-сап (kiyim-sap)
• Malay: ampaian baju
• Maori: tārawa kākahu horoi, tārawa horoi
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хувцасны гэц (xuvcasny gec)

• Norman: corde à lînge f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: klessnor m or f, tørkestativ n

  Nynorsk: kledesnor f, klesnor f, klessnor f, tørkestativ n

• Portuguese: varal (pt) m, estendal (pt) m, estendedouro m, tendal (pt) m
• Russian: бельева́я верёвка f (belʹjevája verjóvka)
• Spanish: cuerda para tender la ropa f, tendal m, (rare) tendedero (es), (rare) tenderete (es),
• Swedish: tvättlina (sv) c
• Tagalog: yangyangan
• Tausug: buwaran
• Uzbek: kiyim liniyasi
• Yiddish: גרעטשטריק m (gretshtrik)

Verb

clothesline (third-person singular simple present clotheslines, present participle clotheslining, simple past and past participle clotheslined)

1. (Canada, US, informal, transitive) To knock (a person) over by striking his or her upper body or neck with one's arm, as if he or she had run into a low clothesline.

   The referee called a personal foul, when he clotheslined the running back.

   • 2014, Jonathan Wood, No Hero, Titan Books, →ISBN:

     One beast jams out its arm, as if to clothesline me, jagged claws poised to take my head off at the neck. I let my feet fall from under me, throwing my legs forward, praying for some momentum, ducking and sliding, a mad limbo to freedom.

   • 2014 February 21, “Ear-bite actor Clive Mantle was like 'big monster', court told”, in BBC News‎^[1]:

     "I turned around and the next thing I was taken out by this big guy. I'm not sure if he punched me or clothes-lined me," he said.

Further reading

• “clothesline”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.