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A.Word.A.Day--halyard

halyard also halliard (HAL-yuhrd) noun

A rope used to raise or lower a sail, flag, or yard.

[Alteration (influenced by yard), of Middle English halier, from halen, to pull.]

"A recent morning in downtown New Market, population 224, was silent except for the resonant, unsynchronized clanging as halyards rattled against the metal flag poles that are common here." Jim Buchta, Spotlight on New Market, Minneapolis Star Tribune, 18 May 1996.

This week's theme: words for miscellany.

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