or LANYARD (from Lanier, Fr.), a short piece of 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 lanyards of the gun-port, the lanyard of the buoy, the lanyard of the cat-hook, and others. The principal lanyards 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 lanyards are fixed in the dead eyes as follows: One end of the lanyards 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 upwards, 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 lanyard 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.

LANIGÉROUS, an appellation given to whatever bears wool.