STOPPER, in a ship, a piece of cable-laid rope, having a wale-knot at one end, with a laniard fastened to it; and the other end is spliced round a thimble in the ring-bolts upon deck, and at the bits: its use is to stop the cable, that it may not run out too fast; in order to which, they make turns with the laniard about the cable, and the wale-knot stops it, so that it cannot slip away faster than is necessary.