dragline

noun

1. A cable, cord, or rope used to drag an object; specifically, the line of a dragline excavator that drags the bucket.

   “Drainboard had been terrified by a narrow escape from the jumping spider's dragline. He had twisted it twice around her cerci and told her, "Your new name is Supper, for that's what you will be in a few hours. My supper."”

   “De Gier had rowed out to where the yacht was anchored, fished up the anchor with a dragline, ascertained that the anchor cable had been cut.”

   “A dragline excavator has a large cutting bucket suspended from the end of a boom. The operator first lowers the bucket mouth down where earth is to be removed, then a second cable—the dragline—pulls the bucket across the surface. The weight of the bucket and the pull of the dragline make a blade at the mouth of the bucket dig into the topsoil, filling the bucket as it moves. When the bucket is full, its contents are tipped by lifting and inverting the bucket over a waiting dump truck.”

   “Spiders rely on silk "draglines" to become airborne and for subsequent transport. Numerical simulations […] suggest that these draglines are flexible and can become contorted by both stretching and twisting. These flexible, extendible draglines enable the spiders to rise in the air column and follow the flow of air, promoting relatively long-distance travel.”

2. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis)Ellipsis of dragline excavator.

   “Much of this material was taken from land adjoining the railway by draglines and bulldozers.”

   “The drainage ditches were constructed with a dragline and were of sufficient width so that it was considered unnecessary to deepen or clear them during the course of the study.”

   “In smaller lagoons (with radius less than about 30 feet), a backhoe is more efficient, while larger lagoons may require the use of a clamshell or a dragline for mixing.”

3. A strong supporting line of silk produced by a spider.