What does "tumpline" mean?

A strap used to carry objects tied to its ends by placing the broadened or cushioned middle of the strap over the head just above the forehead.

What is a synonym for "tumpline"?

Common synonyms include: metump.

//ˈtʌmplaɪn// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A strap used to carry objects tied to its ends by placing the broadened or cushioned middle of the strap over the head just above the forehead.
"The speaker slipped his arms into his pack-harness and adjusted the tumpline to his forehead preparatory to rising."

"The speaker slipped his arms into his pack-harness and adjusted the tumpline to his forehead preparatory to rising."

From tump + line, "tump" is an apheresis of mattump, metump, possibly from a Penobscot descendant of Proto-Algonquian *wetempi (“head”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.