# What's the proper name for those bollards that you tie boats up to? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 3, 2006, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-proper-name-for-those-bollards-that-you-tie-boats-up-to/367202 "2006-08-03T15:58:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-proper-name-for-those-bollards-that-you-tie-boats-up-to/367202/1 "2006-08-03T15:58:29Z")
You know, the big, often mushroom-shaped bollards on a quayside used for tying boats up to, and/or tripping up pedestrians who aren’t watching where they’re going. I’m sure they have a proper nautical-sounding name, but my mind’s gone blank. Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-proper-name-for-those-bollards-that-you-tie-boats-up-to/367202/2 "2006-08-03T16:06:06Z")
Asked and answered, actually. Bollards would indeed be the proper nauticalish term for them. From [thefreedictionary.com](http://thefreedictionary.com): bol·lard n. 1. Nautical A thick post on a ship or wharf, used for securing ropes and hawsers. 2. Chiefly British One of a series of posts preventing vehicles from entering an area. * * * [Middle English, probably from bole, tree trunk; see bole1.] ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-proper-name-for-those-bollards-that-you-tie-boats-up-to/367202/3 "2006-08-03T17:05:57Z")
Another possibility is **bitts** - but this is generally used for a pair of short posts (on a ship or a pier) to which a mooring line can be made fast. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-proper-name-for-those-bollards-that-you-tie-boats-up-to/367202/4 "2006-08-03T18:00:21Z")
When they are on a ship’s deck (as opposed to a dock), they can alo be called timberheads (as they used to be the tops of timbers) and there is a similarly formed racist name for them, as well. I have heard the term extended to the shore-mounted ones, although I do not know how widespread that usage may be. Similarly, since many of them were simply extensions of the piles/pilings that supported the dock (in the way that timberheads were originally extensions of the supporting ship timbers), they are sometimes called piles or pilings. In the Great Lakes, they use the alternative name spile. Bollards, piles, and spiles are generally placed individually, while timberheads _generally_ come in pairs (on the Great Lakes) replacing the word bitts used elsewhere. (This may explain why I heard _some_ bollards on shore called timberheads when they were set in pairs.) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-proper-name-for-those-bollards-that-you-tie-boats-up-to/367202/5 "2006-08-03T18:15:49Z")
Ah - I think “spile” was the more unusual name I was thinking of. I remember thinking it might have some kind of drink-related meaning, too, and a spile is also the name for a bung in a barrel. But I guess “bollard” is good enough. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SeaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDog)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-proper-name-for-those-bollards-that-you-tie-boats-up-to/367202/6 "2006-08-03T18:45:46Z")
I’ve always heard them refered to as mooring bollards or mooring posts, mind you I was an engineer not a deck guy, so I may be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-proper-name-for-those-bollards-that-you-tie-boats-up-to/367202/7 "2006-08-03T19:13:31Z")
If we’re talking about the little ones made of metal, they are often called “cleats”. One of the most amazing inventions ever, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-proper-name-for-those-bollards-that-you-tie-boats-up-to/367202/8 "2006-08-03T19:45:39Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Ah - I think “spile” was the more unusual name I was thinking of. I remember thinking it might have some kind of drink-related meaning, too, and a spile is also the name for a bung in a barrel. Spile is the term used throughout the Great Lakes, but I have never encountered it anywhere else. (It is even difficult to drag up in most dictionaries.) Maybe Great Lakes sailors simply drank more as soon as they tied up? (Ashtabula claims that at the height of its business, it had the most bars in the world, beating even Singapore. I have never been able to verify the claim.) ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-proper-name-for-those-bollards-that-you-tie-boats-up-to/367202/9 "2006-08-03T21:19:56Z")
C’mon, people. They’re called _thingies_. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-proper-name-for-those-bollards-that-you-tie-boats-up-to/367202/10 "2006-08-04T05:40:21Z")
> [@butler1850](#): > > If we’re talking about the little ones made of metal, they are often called “cleats”. > > One of the most amazing inventions ever, IMHO. No a cleat is something different. And yes, in close to a couple of decades in the industry, I’ve never heard them called anything but bollards. ---
**Author:** ![USNR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/94ad74/32.png) [@USNR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USNR)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2021, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-proper-name-for-those-bollards-that-you-tie-boats-up-to/367202/11 "2021-02-19T07:05:47Z")
Actually several of you are correct. But I think that Ethilrist was the closest and the article title is wrong. Ethilrist identified a BOLLARD as “A thick post on a ship or wharf, used for securing ropes and hawsers.” If you are tying up a boat, for example, a sail boat or row boat, you would tie a rope around the CLEAT - that smaller metal _thingie_ that has “arms out each side.” If you are tying up a ship, for example a cruise ship, tanker, or Navy ship, you would use a hawser -" a “very large rope”, to tie up to a BOLLARD, a post like large item sticking up out of the pier. P.S. I was told that “the difference between a boat and a ship is that you can carry a boat on a ship.” (18+ years US Navy Reserve) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2021, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-proper-name-for-those-bollards-that-you-tie-boats-up-to/367202/12 "2021-02-19T22:30:31Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > bitts Doing a bit of googling, it looks like mooring bitts are composed of bollards. Here’s an example: [Mooring Bollards | Bollards Blog (reliance-foundry.com)](https://www.reliance-foundry.com/blog/mooring-bollards#gref) ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-proper-name-for-those-bollards-that-you-tie-boats-up-to/367202/13 "2021-02-20T05:04:03Z")
> [@USNR](#): > > I was told that “the difference between a boat and a ship is that you can carry a boat on a ship.” No argument there, but I’m also told that all Great Lakes vessels are also called _boats_. (Oceangoing ships are sometimes also found on the Great Lakes, but “salties” are exceptions to this rule). ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-proper-name-for-those-bollards-that-you-tie-boats-up-to/367202/14 "2021-02-20T06:04:18Z")
Ashley explains: > A _bollard_ was originally a knighthead and, later, a large post at either side of a dock. Nowadays the name generally refers to round bitts of cast iron which may be either single or in pairs and are to be found either on the dockside or on shipboard, in the latter case generally on steamships. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-proper-name-for-those-bollards-that-you-tie-boats-up-to/367202/15 "2021-02-20T18:19:06Z")
> [@USNR](#): > > P.S. I was told that “the difference between a boat and a ship is that you can carry a boat on a ship.” Generally true, but fishing boats are often called boats even when they carry life boats on them. Some are referred to as fishing boat ships, I guess to recognize the rule. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-proper-name-for-those-bollards-that-you-tie-boats-up-to/367202/16 "2021-02-25T02:32:13Z")
I don’t think a small dinghy or lifeboat counts - if it did most small-medium yachts - would be ships.