A fastener (usually with two projecting horns) around which a rope can be secured

Usage examples of cleat.

Instead, he and his companions camped on the deck, sleeping on raffia mats under a canvas awning that slanted steeply from the rail of the quarterdeck to a cleat by the cargo well.

Flack, flack, went the toggles as the stage-hands laced them over the wooden cleats.

The moonlight was strong enough to give a clear picture of the deck, and as they tacked the men were quicker at freeing a rope or making it fast on cleat, kevil or belaying pin.

Ferguson and Styler were playing deep, in a crouch, the front end of their cleats digging into hard ground.

Thierry yanked at the mainsheet and wrapped it around the cleat, pulling the sail to the wind and easing the little skiff into the waves.

Before they collided the conveyor driver saw the Bethlehem in his rear mirror and retroversed the tracks, the great steel cleats stabbing through the surface of the roadway, locking in a sudden spasm.

Moments later the wind shifted ninety degrees and increased to a speed that made the sailors cling for dear life to deck cleats, if they happened to be on board, and to the handiest vegetation if they did not.

Defenders, pads, helmets, and cleats bounced off the head, often in different directions.

They would have to squat or lie on the grating and lean downward to nail the cleats across the canvas.

Tal set the spike of his staff carefully, lifted a foot and stepped forward, driving the cleats into the ice before lifting the other and repeating the motion.

Like the Marines, they had inserted the toes of their shipboots into deck cleats to free both hands.

A flemished rectangle of line covered the top of the clumsy-cleat to protect the razor-keen edges on the cleats as Grey stepped up on the thwart.

Though these came in all sizes, they were all essentially of the same design: a fat cylinder of some transparent cladding, ribbed with metal, provided on both sides with caterpillar treads bearing cleats so large that they could also serve as paddles where the going underfoot became especially sloppy.

With that, he turned and strode off as Saxon hurried to catch him, his hard cleats clicking on the iron pavement.

The hard sound of his cleats grew distant as he paced down the corridor.