Word.ws English Dictionary

trotline

Syllables: trot·lineUK/ˌtɹɒtˈlaɪ̯n//ˌtɹɑtˈlaɪ̯n/

trotline noun: a long fishing line with many shorter lines and hooks attached to it (usually suspended between buoys).

Noun

trotline (plural trotlines)

  1. A long fishing line with many shorter lines and hooks attached to it (usually suspended between buoys).
    • He scrubbed the deck every morning, spliced broken lines, climbed nimbly amongst the yards and ratlines to let out or take in sails, ran trotlines from the stern to augment their meals with fresh fish and served spells at the helm, although never on his own and never at night.2022, Paul McAuley, Beyond the Burn Line, Gollancz, pages 162-163

Forms of trotline

pluraltrotlines

Origin of trotline

From trot + line.

Questions about trotline

What does trotline mean?
Trotline means a long fishing line with many shorter lines and hooks attached to it (usually suspended between buoys).
What part of speech is trotline?
Trotline is a noun.
How do you pronounce trotline?
Trotline is pronounced /ˌtɹɒtˈlaɪ̯n/ (UK).
What is the plural of trotline?
The plural of trotline is trotlines.

Words near trotline in the dictionary

  1. trothplighted
  2. trothplighting
  3. trothplights
  4. troths
  5. Trothy
  6. trotline
  7. trotlines
  8. Trotman
  9. trotro
  10. trotros
  11. trots

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: trotline (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-trotline.wav.

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