Stopper

A piece of rope, one end of which is fastened to a ringbolt in a deck, to a rail, etc., employed to be slung round a taut rope, for instance round the halliard of a sail, or round a warp, when a ve el is moving in harbour, for the purpose of taking the strain, which had before been on the hands of the men hoisting, or upon the winch, by which the warp is hove, so that such halliard, or warp can be belayed, without losing anything of what has been gained by purchase.