marlinspike means A tool, consisting of a pointed metal spike, used to manipulate the strands of rope or cable when knotting and splicing. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 85 out of 100.
Etymology
From marline + spike.
noun
- A tool, consisting of a pointed metal spike, used to manipulate the strands of rope or cable when knotting and splicing.“[…] the afterguard, of whom they have but a sorry opinion, chiefly landsmen, never going aloft except to reef or furl the mainsail and in no wise competent to handle a marlinspike or turn in a dead-eye, say.”