A nautical term for a rope or line used to secure a sail to a spar or to furl a sail; also spelled 'earring' in sailing contexts.
From Middle Low German 'Ering' or Dutch 'eering,' this nautical term has a separate origin from 'ear' despite similar spelling. It comes from the practice of sailors using ropes near the 'ears' (corners) of sails.
Sailors had their own technical vocabulary for literally everything on a ship, and 'earing' is one of those words that shows how sailing terminology influenced English—it's basically a rope that goes to the 'ear' or corner of a sail!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.