laniard

Noun

lanyard (plural lanyards)

1. A short rope used for fastening rigging, as a handle, etc.
   • "Take ahold here, an' keep ringin' steady," said Dan, passing Harvey the lanyard of a bell that hung just behind the windlass.1896 November – 1897 May, Rudyard Kipling, chapter III, in “Captains Courageous”, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, published 1897, →OCLC, pages 101–102
2. (broadly) A cord worn around the neck, shoulder, or wrist which is attached to a small object to be carried such as an identity card or security pass, key, knife, or whistle.
   • Aboard ship he carried his crutch by a lanyard round his neck, to have both hands as free as possible. [...] [H]e would hand himself from one place to another, now using the crutch, now trailing it alongside by the lanyard, as quickly as another man could walk.1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Voyage”, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part II (The Sea Cook), pages 79–80
3. A craft activity done by intricately braiding thin colored plastic lines to make patterns, or the product of such a craft.
   • It's lanyard. It's a camp tradition. You'll have about a million lanyard key chains by the time the summer is over.2006 07, Melissa J. Morgan, Natalie's Secret, ABDO, →ISBN, page 48
4. (broadly) A cord with a hook which is secured to an artillery piece, and pulled to fire the weapon.
5. (UK, derogatory) A civil servant or mid-level bureaucrat, viewed as officious and overly concerned with social justice.
   • Completely agree. Nowhere more so than in Scotlsnd^([sic]), where the lanyards are making a mockery of how a parliament should work.2025 May 11, KH (@kh_99), Twitter