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belay
Belay means to secure a rope around a person, pin or cleat.
(verb)An example of belay is to wrap a rope around a rock to support a mountain climber.
The definition of a belay is something to which a person or rope is secured.
(noun)A large rock on a mountain is an example of a belay.
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See belay in Webster's New World College Dictionary
transitive verb, intransitive verb belayed, belaying
- to make (a rope) secure by winding around a belaying pin, cleat, piton, etc.; hold fast
- Naut., Informal
- to hold; stop: belay there!
- to cancel: belay the last order
- to secure (a person, as a mountain climber, or thing) by a rope
Origin: ME bileggen < OE belecgan, to make fast < be-, be- + lecgan, lay
noun
action, method, or place of securing a hold for a rope in mountain climbing
See belay in American Heritage Dictionary 4
verb be·layed, be·lay·ing, be·lays verb, transitive
- Nautical To secure or make fast (a rope, for example) by winding on a cleat or pin.
- To secure (a mountain climber, for example) at the end of a length of rope.
- To cause to stop.
- To be made secure.
- Used in the imperative as an order to stop: Belay there!
- The securing of a rope on a rock or other projection during mountain climbing.
- An object, such as a rock, to which a mountain climber's rope can be secured.
Origin:
Origin: Middle English bileggen, to surround
Origin: , from Old English belecgan; see legh- in Indo-European roots
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