Word.ws English Dictionary

fairlead

fairlead noun: a device to guide a line, rope or cable around an object or out of the way, or to stop it from moving laterally.

Noun

fairlead (plural fairleads)

  1. A device to guide a line, rope or cable around an object or out of the way, or to stop it from moving laterally.
    • Approach the boat from the bow and use the Cunningham fairlead to help guide the foot of the mast into the hole in the hull.(Can we date this quote?), “Laser Rigging Instructions”, in California State University, Sacramento, page 1

Forms of fairlead

pluralfairleads

Origin of fairlead

From fair + lead.

Questions about fairlead

What does fairlead mean?
Fairlead means a device to guide a line, rope or cable around an object or out of the way, or to stop it from moving laterally.
What part of speech is fairlead?
Fairlead is a noun.
What is the plural of fairlead?
The plural of fairlead is fairleads.

Words near fairlead in the dictionary

  1. fairings
  2. fairish
  3. fairishes
  4. fairishly
  5. Fairisle
  6. fairlead
  7. fairleader
  8. fairleaders
  9. fairleads
  10. Fairlee
  11. Fairley

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fairlead (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “fairlead.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fairlead. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.