devil's rope
English
Cylindropuntia imbricata
Noun
devil's rope (countable and uncountable, plural devil's ropes)
- Mortal sin.
- 2008, Preaching in the Age of Chaucer: Selected Sermons in Translation, →ISBN, page 29:
- ...those who are dragged to the gallows of hell by the devil's rope, that is, mortal sin, and will not confess.
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- An open branching shrub (Cylindropuntia imbricata) with cylindrical joints, which are covered with short raised ridges like the plait of a rope.
- A variety of cochineal, (Dactylopius newsteadi), used to destroy Cylindropuntia imbricata.
- (US, southwest, slang) Barbed wire
- 2011, Linh Dinh, Love Like Hate: A Novel, →ISBN, page 94:
- The devil's rope was originally designed to keep cows from roaming, Indians from encroaching, and the cowboys from singing their lonesome ballads.
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