string n OED ~ sb 1 a 'in early use sometimes a rope of any thickness' for sense 1; OED 2 a for sense 2; cp SKEIN for phr in sense 3.
1 A cable (1925 Dial Notes v, 344).
1924 ENGLAND 190 'Rise up dat spring, you—hayve un off dat clumper—so! ... Fire dat string to 'ell's flames out o' dere!' The Terra Nova shudders as an acre or two of ice begins to creak and shift. Perilously the hawser tautens; vibrates like a fiddlestring and seems about to snap, but holds.
2 Animal ligament or tendon.
T 29-64 There was nothing better than ever you put inside o' your mouth any better than that seal was. In between the strings, you know, the meat, it's fat, and we wouldn't eat it.
3 Phr string of ice: long, narrow strip of floating ice.
1855 WHITE MS Journal 1 Mar Passing through strings of Ice at day light on second morning. [1891] [c1977] WINSOR (ed) 46 We was forced to put into the ice for shelter—that is, sir, into a string of loose runnin' ice, about three or four miles off the shore. 1924 ENGLAND 275-6 'See arr sign? Is there arr good string of ice out to east-nordeast?' was the first question I heard from the bridge very early next morning. The ship was drifting in loose ice under a gray sky. 1934 Nfld Qtly July, p. 30 In the mild winter they can find open water everywhere, with strings of ice where they can rest; but with very severe frost the ocean is frozen over and the seals are driven to the Southern edge of the ice. 1956 Nfld & Lab Pilot, Supplement No 3, p. 10 Stream/Strip/String [ice] long narrow area of pack-ice/drift ice, about half a mile or less in width, usually composed of small fragments. 1977 BURSEY 23 The Bay was full of strings of ice and there was fog about. But the wind was fair. But strings of ice, fog and night coming on was not about to stop Skipper Tom Strong. 1981 Evening Telegram 24 Mar, p. 1 The ice field, smallest in many years and consisting of loose strings close to the Labrador coast, was broken and drifting.
string of seals: long line of migrating seals; PATCH.
1922 Sat Ev Post 195, 2 Sep, p. 11 Why, no one knows; but the strings of hoods always swim to seaward of the harps, either in the gulf or at sea. These two species always migrate in company, but never mix. 1924 ENGLAND 295 Morning brought a report from the barrel that the spyrnaster could 'rise de smoke o' de Nipshun on de 'orizon,' storming after us to catch our own private string o' swiles. 1972 BROWN 31 A string of seals sixty miles long had passed south-east the day before, just a few miles off the land. They could plot their position accurately within three of four miles.
