fairleadn.
/ˈfɛːliːd/, U.S. /ˈfɛrˌlid/ Originally and chiefly Nautical.
A fitting or device on a vessel, vehicle, etc., which guides a rope or wire running through it, and prevents snagging or chafing.
ΚΠ
1858 C. Bushell Rigger's Guide (ed. 4) 243 Reeve the fore guys through a fair lead in the forecastle bulwark.
1869 E. J. Reed Shipbuilding xv. 290 Of late..fair-leads or dead-eyes of malleable cast-iron have been employed.
1911 Mariner′s Mirror 1 352/1 She had small fore tack bumpkins which served as fairleads, for the tacks passed through them to the beak head.
1937 Times 13 Apr. (British Motor No.) p. xvi/2 Roller fairleads at the rear end of the vehicle allow the cable to be used immediately to the rear or at any angle to the side.
1999 New Yorker 23 Aug. 137/1 The mooring ropes, sounding thin and taut, sawed against the fairleads.
Compounds
General attributive, as fairlead block, fairlead sheave, etc.
ΚΠ
1872 Papers Royal Inst. Brit. Architects 75 The steam crab for hoisting was on the floor of the station, and all the ropes from the derricks were led to it by snatch and fairlead blocks.
1884 Electrician 26 Apr. 559 They..rigged up two little fairlead sheaves.
1962 Logging Farm Wood Crops (U.S. Dept. Agric. Farmers' Bull. No. 2090) 46 Notice the built-in fairlead rollers on the winch.
2003 M. Scherer Back Under Sail 161 I'd catch myself string too long at..the pattern of salt spray on the fairlead blocks.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1858