“Reeve” as a verb relates to threading a rope through a block or a pulley. It’s an important component of sailing rigging and other uses of ropes and pulleys, such as arboreal work and lowering people down into canyons for rescue situations. As a verb, “reeve” comes from the Dutch “reven,” meaning “reef,” another word for “sail.” But “reeve” as a noun was used in a historical sense to refer to a local magistrate or other town official in Anglo-Saxon England. This word comes from the Old English “rēfa,” with the same meaning.