Definition of "ratline"

ratline

/ˈɹætlɪn/

noun
plural ratlines
1. (nautical, uncountable) The rope or similar material used to make cross-ropes on a ship.
2. (nautical) Any of the cross ropes between the shrouds, which form a net-like ropework, allowing sailors to climb up towards the top of the mast.
  Quotations
  [H]e laid hold of the first ratline with his right hand, then sprung to the second, with his left, and so on alternately, right and left, up to the last, close to the futtock shrouds.
  1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 80
  That meant it was not possible to use ratlines — that is, to make rope ladders out of the shrouds by adding small connecting pieces of ropes.
  1980, Richard W. Unger, The Ship in the Medieval Economy 600-1600, page 34
3. (historical, in the plural) A system of escape routes for Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe in the aftermath of World War II.
  Quotations
  Marc Masurovsky, of the European Shoah Legacy Institute, has a remarkable knowledge of the Nazi ratlines and Allied intelligence.
  2015, Gerald Posner, God's Bankers, Simon and Schuster, page 515