Naut. [f. BOLT sb.1 + ROPE.] ‘A rope sewed all round the edge of the sail, to prevent the canvas from tearing.’ Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk.

1

1626.  Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Seamen, 14. Ibid. (1627), Seaman’s Gram., vi. 27. The Bolt ropes are those wherein the sailes are sowed.

2

1762–9.  Falconer, Shipwr., II. 461. The … mizen … In fluttering fragments from its bolt-rope fled.

3

1830.  I. Taylor, The Ship, 154.

4

1840.  R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxv. 82. The jib was blown to atoms out of the bolt-rope.

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