the.com/waterline
The line that decides whether you're sailing or swimming.
means The line on a ship's hull where the surface of the water sits, marking the boundary between the part that floats above and the part submerged below.
from A plain compound of "water" and "line," both Old English at heart — "water" (wæter) and "line" (line, from Latin linea, a flaxen thread or cord). Sailors needed a word for that crucial mark, and English did what it loves best: bolted two ordinary words together into one useful one. It later floated outward into figurative speech, where keeping something "above the waterline" means keeping it safely afloat.
- Plimsoll mark
- Cargo ships carry a legal load-limit line by law
- Below it
- Hull paint resists barnacles, weeds, and slime
- Salt vs fresh
- Ships ride higher in salty seas
- Combat term
- A hit below the waterline sinks fastest
- Eyeliner trick
- Makeup's waterline is your inner eyelid rim
plimsoll line — international maritime mark on ships' hulls showing maximum safe loading depth, established 1876
titanic wreck waterline — the iceberg damage occurred below the waterline at 11:40 pm on april 14, 1912
panama canal waterline — ships transit between atlantic and pacific through gatun lake at 85 feet above sea level