Editing Clothes line (section)

{{Short description|Device for hanging and drying laundry}}
{{other uses|Clothesline (disambiguation)}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{Update|date=August 2016}}
{{Globalize|date=November 2010}}
{{More citations needed|date=November 2023}}
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[[Image:Hallig Hooge, Germany, view from the Backenswarft.jpg|thumb|Clothes lines located on the islet of [[Hooge, Germany|Hooge]] in northern [[Germany]].]]
[[Image:Tripoli.JPG|thumb|Clothes lines located in [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]] in northern [[Lebanon]].]]
[[File:Pompeii_-_Fullonica_of_Veranius_Hypsaeus_1_-_MAN.jpg|thumb|Fresco from a [[fullonica]] (laundry) in [[Pompeii]], showing washing draped on a line without clothespins.]]

A '''clothes line''', also spelled '''clothesline,''' also known as a '''wash line''', is a device for hanging clothes on for the purpose of [[drying]] or [[airing]] out the articles. It is made of any type of [[rope]], cord, wire, or [[twine]] that has been stretched between two points (e.g. two posts), outdoors or indoors, above ground level. Washing lines are attached either from a post or a wall, and are frequently located in [[back garden]]s, or on [[balconies]]. Longer washing lines often have props holding up the mid-section so the weight of the clothing does not pull the clothesline down to the ground.

[[Clothing]] that has recently been washed is hung over the line to dry. Nowadays it is held in place with [[clothespin|clothespins]], but until the 19th century laundry was simply draped over the line (and often blew away), as is visible in artistic depictions of clotheslines from earlier periods. The clothespin was not invented until 1809.<ref>{{cite news |title=The curious history of the clothespeg |url=https://medium.economist.com/the-curious-history-of-the-clothespeg-3f8615519c61 |access-date=8 May 2025 |work=Medium |publisher=The Economist |date=22 December 2016 |language=en}}</ref> 

More elaborate rotary washing lines save space and are typically retractable and square or triangular in shape, with multiple lines being used (such as the [[Hills Hoist]] from Australia). Some can be folded up when not in use. The notable con man [[Steve Comisar]] once sold a solar powered clothes dryer advertised in national magazines as a scientifically proven, space age method of drying clothes using only the power of the sun. Customers received a length of clothesline. In [[Scotland]], many [[tenement]] buildings have a "drying green", which is a communal area predominantly used for clothes lines. A "drying green" may also be used as a recreational space for tenants. The [[overhead clothes airer]] is an indoor version hung at ceiling level and also raised and lowered with pulleys.