How to translate this expression?（请英语熟练者进）

题目

How to translate this expression?（请英语熟练者进）
I wonder what the word "line" mean in the following expression,an example given in the "take in" entry (where "take in" means "to draw into a smaller compass") in Merriam-Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary:
take in the slack of a line
Thank you very much!

答案

我想line在这里还是“绳索”的意思.
take in 有“收小”的意思,也就是to draw into a smaller compass.那么take in the slack of a line 就是“把绳索松的那头收小”也就是“把绳索松的那头卷起来”