picket linen.
/ˈpɪkɪt lʌɪn/, U.S. /ˈpɪkᵻt ˌlaɪn/ 1. A rope or line held by a picket or pickets, esp. one used for tethering horses. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [noun] > tether
tether1376
sealc1440
solec1440
picket line1768
head rope1810
leg rope1826
trail-rope1826
lariat1835
riata1846
mecate1849
hitching-weight1852
tie-strap1875
1768 J. Muller Treat. Artillery (ed. 2) 186 Picket line, rope, 2½ coils.
1899 Scribner's Mag. 25 19/1 It was no easy matter to handle them on the picket-lines, and to provide for feeding and watering.
1980 W. J. Smith Army Brat (1982) i. ii. 22 Picket lines for the seventy-nine riding horses and 211 mules are established beyond the camp proper.
2. Military. (a) A fortification, defence, or barrier formed by pickets, a stockade. Now rare. (b) The line or boundary guarded by a picket of soldiers.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > defence > [noun] > defensive boundary or cordon
defensive line1632
cordon1759
picket line1847
perimeter1861
1847 J. J. Oswandel Notes Mexican War (1885) ii. 100 The guards received strict orders to stop all men from going outside of the picket-line, as the chaparral is full of rancheros and ladrones.
1856 R. Glisan Jrnl. Army Life (1874) xx. 277 Indians broke through the picket line.
1867 H. Latham Black & White 105 The opposing lines were not more than two hundred yards apart, and between these were the picket lines, about one hundred yards from one another.
1917 Los Angeles Times 22 Apr. iii. 22 Some of the strangest language in the army is heard on the picket line.
1978 Guardian Weekly 29 Jan. 17/2 It violates the basic military axiom of not putting the main body of troops on the picket line.
3. Originally U.S. A boundary established by striking workers, typically at the entrance to a workplace, which other workers are asked not to cross. (Now the usual sense.)
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > working > labour relations > [noun] > strike > boundary established by striking workers
picket line1894
1894 Gettysburg (Pa.) Compiler 29 May The strikers [at a mine] threw out a picket line..at a distance that guaranteed them safety from the deputies' rifles.
1905 Atlanta (Georgia) Constit. 7 Oct. 3 It is idle to talk of picketing for lawful persuasive purposes. Men do not form picket lines for the purpose of lawful persuasion.
1927 U. Sinclair Oil! xiv. 348 Jacob Menzies had been clubbed almost insensible on the picket-line.
1945 A. Huxley Let. 13 Oct. (1969) 536 Matthew was fortunately absent when the violence broke out on the picket line, but he got arrested.
1973 Guardian 11 June 13/8 The manual workers at Salford will hold a mass meeting to decide if they will cross the picket line.
2000 N.Y. Times 21 Aug. a19/4 An agreement reached yesterday..meant the end of picket lines and paycheck worries.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1768