Dictionary

ratline en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈɹætlɪn/

Etymology

Apparently a corruption of raddling by folk-etymological reanalysis as rat + line.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) The rope or similar material used to make cross-ropes on a ship.
2. Any of the cross ropes between the shrouds, which form a net-like ropework, allowing sailors to climb up towards the top of the mast.
   • That meant it was not possible to use ratlines — that is, to make rope ladders out of the shrouds by adding small connecting pieces of ropes. 1980, Richard W. Unger, The Ship in the Medieval Economy 600-1600, page 34:
   • [H]e laid hold of the first ratline with his right hand, then sprung to the second, with his left, and so on alternately, right and left, up to the last, close to the futtock shrouds. 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 80
3. (historical, in-plural, often) A system of escape routes for Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe in the aftermath of World War II.
   • Marc Masurovsky, of the European Shoah Legacy Institute, has a remarkable knowledge of the Nazi ratlines and Allied intelligence. 2015, Gerald Posner, God's Bankers, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 515:

Forms

Deriveds

ratline stuff

Descendants

Rattenlinie

Translations (14)

pl wyblinka (net like ropework of the shrouds) · cmn 老鼠線 /老鼠线 (Nazi escape route system) · de Rattenlinie (Nazi escape route system) · nl rattenlijn (Nazi escape route system) · de Webeleine (net like ropework of the shrouds) · fr enfléchure (net like ropework of the shrouds) · ru вы́бленка (net like ropework of the shrouds) · es flechaste (net like ropework of the shrouds) · de Webleine (net like ropework of the shrouds) · fi väylinki (net like ropework of the shrouds) · cmn 繩梯 /绳梯 (net like ropework of the shrouds) · sv vevling (net like ropework of the shrouds) · he חֲוַק חֶבֶל (net like ropework of the shrouds) · he חַוְקֵי הַתֹּרֶן (net like ropework of the shrouds)