(from Lanier, Fr.), a short piece of Laniard cord or line fastened to several machines in a ship, and serving to secure them in a particular place, or to manage them more conveniently. Such are the laniards of the gun port, the laniard of the buoy, the laniard of the cat hook, &c.—The principal laniards used in a ship, however, are those employed to extend the shrouds and stays of the masts by their communication with the dead eyes, so as to form a sort of mechanical power resembling that of a tackle. These laniards are fixed in the dead eyes as follows: one end of the laniards is thrust through one of the holes of the upper dead eye, and then knotted, to prevent it from drawing out; the other is then passed through one of the holes in the lower dead eye, whence, returning upward, it is inserted through the second hole in the upper dead eye, and next through the second in the lower dead eye, and finally through the third holes in both dead eyes. The end of the laniard being then directed upwards from the lowest dead eye, is stretched as stiff as possible by the application of tackles; and that the several parts of it may slide with more facility through the holes of the dead eyes, it is well smeared with hog's lard or tallow, so that the strain is immediately communicated to all the turns at once.