noun.Nautical, a whip-purchase, consisting of a rope passing through a block on the head of a mast, employed to raise the rigging of a ship for the first time. Also called gant-line.
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
noun.
A gantline.
noun.
a line rigged for hanging out hammocks to dry.
"Tripolitans to cut away their masts, throw overboard all their cannon, cutlasses, pistols, and other arms; cut their sails to pieces; throw all ammunition into the sea, and, to use a nautical expression, "strip the ship to a girtline.""