clothesline

Etymology

clothes + line

noun

1. A rope or cord tied up outdoors to hang clothes on so they can dry.
   Coordinate term: clotheshorse
   Hang this towel out on the clothesline for me.
2. A structure with multiple cords for the same purpose, such as a Hills hoist.
3. (Canada, US, informal) The act of knocking a person over by striking his or her upper body or neck with one's arm, as if he or she had run into a low clothesline.

verb

1. (Canada, US, informal, transitive) To knock (a person) over by striking his or her upper body or neck with one's arm, as if he or she had run into a low clothesline.
   The referee called a personal foul, when he clotheslined the running back.
   One beast jams out its arm, as if to clothesline me, jagged claws poised to take my head off at the neck. I let my feet fall from under me, throwing my legs forward, praying for some momentum, ducking and sliding, a mad limbo to freedom. 2014, Jonathan Wood, No Hero, Titan Books
   "I turned around and the next thing I was taken out by this big guy. I'm not sure if he punched me or clothes-lined me," he said. 2014-02-21, “Ear-bite actor Clive Mantle was like 'big monster', court told”, in BBC News