trip line
- noun
- Archaic
:
cuerda de liberación
- The lumberjack carefully checked the trip line before starting the machinery.
Examples
-
Make sure the trip line is secure so that we can release the hook when needed.
-
Take this knife and cut the trip line.
-
Get the trip line!
-
If this one somehow got past the trip lines, pulling off the carcass would fire all three bows at once.
Fiction book (2000) -
Lighting a taper, he checked the crossbows and trip lines.
Fiction book (2000) -
Each bow had been nudged from behind to slacken the trip lines, then discharged harmlessly into the ground.
Fiction book (2000) -
"What an imbecile he had been—pompously setting up his crossbows and trip lines, patiently explaining to this poor childish savage how he meant to trap her.
Fiction book (2000) -
To safely release the log, you need to pull the trip line from a distance.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is directly compositional: 'trip' (a release mechanism) combined with 'line' (a rope) yields a rope used to trigger a release, so the specific logging function is inferable. Although domain-specific, the noun+noun composition follows normal English compounding patterns and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituent senses.
Etymology
Trip line comes from logging work: a thin rope, the line, was used to trip a dog hook off a log from a safe distance, so pulling it would 'release' the hook.
