slab2 n Cp OED ~ sb3 naut 'any slack part of a sail hanging down,' slabline 'cord used to truss up a sail.' Attrib slabline: long line used to manage 'trawls' in the cod-fishery.
1984 KELLAND 183 The slablines which were eighteen pound lines, reached a length of approximately fifty fathoms. One end of those lines was fastened to the ends of the mooring ropes, the other to the ends of the trawl. Where mooring ropes and slablines joined, the buoylines were attached. 1987 FIZZARD 129 'On the gear we'd have a slab line on each end, a line with no hooks on it, that's the line from the buoy to the bottom; you'd haul the slab line before you come to the gear.'
