ROPE-LADDER. Such as hangs over the stern, to enable men to go into boats, &c.
ROPE-MAKER. A first-class petty officer in the navy.
ROPE OF SAND. A term borrowed from a Greek proverb signifying attempting impossibilities; without cohesion. Said of people who ought, but will not combine to effect a necessary object.
ROPES. A general name given to all the cordage above one inch in circumference used in rigging a ship; but the name is severally applied to the [awning], [bell], [boat], [bolt], [breast], [bucket], [buoy], [davit], [entering], [grapnel], [guest or guist], [guy], [heel], [keel], [man], [parral], [passing], [ring], [rudder], [slip], [swab], [tiller], [top], and [yard]: all which see under their respective heads. Ropes are of several descriptions, viz.:—Cable-laid, consists of three strands of already formed hawser-laid or twisted left-hand, laid up into one opposite making nine strands.—Hawser-laid, is merely three strands of simple yarns twisted right, but laid up left.—Four-strand is similarly laid with four strands, and a core scarcely twisted.—Sash-line is plaited and used for signal halliards.—Rope-yarn is understood to be the selected serviceable yarns from condemned rope, and is worked into twice-laid. The refuse, again, into rumbowline for temporary purposes, not demanding strength.
ROPES, High. On the high ropes. To be ceremonious, upstart, invested with brief authority.
ROPE'S END. The termination of a fall, and should be pointed or whipped. Formerly much used for illegal punishment.
ROPE-YARN. The smallest and simplest part of any rope, being one of the large threads of hemp or other stuff, several of which being twisted together form a strand.
ROPING-NEEDLES. Those used for roping, being strong accordingly.
RORQUAL, or Furrowed Whale. A name of Scandinavian origin applied to the fin-back whales, distinguished from the right whales by the small size of their heads, shortness of their whalebone, the presence of a dorsal fin, and of a series of conspicuous longitudinal folds or furrows in the skin of the throat and chest.
ROSE, or Strainer. A plate of copper or lead perforated with small holes, placed on the heel of a pump to prevent choking substances from being sucked in. Roses are also nailed, for the like purpose, upon the holes which are made on a steamer's bottom for the admission of water to the boilers and condensers.