Definition of "hawser" []

• A cable or rope used in mooring or towing a ship. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The word hawser has nothing whatever to do with the verb to hoist; neither does the ` N.E.D. 'say that it has."
• "The hawser is a thick rope, or cable, to which the lifebuoy is suspended when in action."
• "I was concerned that the standard garage door was not secure enough and wanted to give him extra locking facility for the cycle - so I screwed a padlock type hasp into the wall inside the garage - then provided a steel 'hawser' type rope (from a cycle shop) for him to lock the bike up to, which threaded through the large hasp."