Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BOW'LINE, n. [Sp. and Port. bolina; Arm. bouline, “voile de biais pour recevoir le vent de côté,” a slanting sail to receive a side wind, Gregoire; Fr. bouline, a tack; bouliner, to tack, to turn one way and the other, to dodge or shift. But in Danish it is bougline, the line of the bow or bend.]

A rope fastened near the middle of the leech or perpendicular edge of the square sails, by subordinate parts, called bridles, and used to keep the weather edge of the sail tight forward, when the ship is close hauled. – Mar. Dict. Bowline-bridles, are the ropes by which the bowline is fastened to the leech of the sail.