(also ˈload line ) noun
a line on the side of a ship showing the highest point that the water can safely reach when the ship is loaded
For more information see the Cultural Guide
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WORD ORIGIN
named after Samuel Plimsoll (1824–98), the English politician whose agitation in the 1870s resulted in the Merchant Shipping Act of 1876, ending the practice of sending to sea overloaded and heavily insured old ships, from which the owners profited if they sank.