Cleat - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

CLEAT (a word common in various forms to many Teutonic languages, in the sense of a wedge or lump, cf. " clod " and clot "), a wedge-shaped piece of wood fastened to ships' masts and elsewhere to prevent a rope, collar or the like from slipping, or to act as a step; more particularly a piece of wood or metal with double or single horns used for belaying ropes. A " cleat " is also a wedge fastened to a ship's side to catch the shores in a launching cradle or dry dock. " Cleat " is also used in mining for the vertical cleavage-planes of coal.