Scare-line

But it presently appears that a black cat was the only creature killed outright, and that the scare-line was merely a playful allusion to the extraordinary vitality that fable says all pussies have.

Source: wiktionary

Unfortunately this isn't a scare-line, but a frozen truth, and it behooves every druggist to provide himself with ice-economizers.

Source: wiktionary

I knew for instance, sitting at my desk, just how many extra papers I could sell with a scare-line on a police scandal.

Source: wiktionary

Fry are collected from sandy regions with gear that consist of a piece of cloth 3 m x 1.2 m and 3 m of rope as a scare-line, with palmyra leaves tied to it at short intervals.

Source: wiktionary