Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun plural All the yards which belong to the mainmast, namely, the lower, lower topsail, upper topsail, topgallant, royal, and skysail yards.
  • noun Nautical, the lower yard on the mainmast.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Mr. Mellaire, will you launch the long boat and get some kind of a crew into it while I back the main-yard?

    CHAPTER XVIII 2010

  • "As soon as the sea rises," she said, "we'll have that loose main-yard and all the rest of the top-hamper tumbling down on deck."

    CHAPTER XLV 2010

  • The foremast was gone, the main-yard sprung, the rigging hanging in elf-locks, the hull shot through and through in twenty places, the deck strewn with the bodies of nine good men, beside sixteen wounded down below; while the pitiless sun, right above their heads, poured down a flood of fire upon a sea of glass.

    Westward Ho! 2007

  • Wrecks, engagements, ships on fire, ships passing lighthouses on iron-bound coasts, ships blowing up, ships going down, ships running ashore, men lying out upon the main-yard in a gale of wind, sailors and ships in every variety of peril, constitute the illustrations of fact.

    Reprinted Pieces 2007

  • Death to the Redoutable, he thought, and just then the French seamen released the Redoutable's main-yard halliards and the great spar dropped to crash onto the Victory's shattered hammock netting.

    Sharpe's Trafalgar Cornwell, Bernard, 1944- 2000

  • Well, one forenoon, blowing a good topsail breeze, as it might be to-day, but more sea than wind, we was going large, and I up on the main-yard, turning in a splice.

    The Continental Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 5, May, 1862 Devoted To Literature And National Policy Various

  • As the day broke, I found myself in gun-shot of the chase; and the Penelope, within musket-shot, raking her; the effects of whose well-directed fire, during the night, had shot away the main and mizen top-masts and main-yard.

    The Life of the Right Honourable Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson, Volume 2 James Harrison

  • The second mate then went forwards, shouting, "All hands, ahoy!" and, shortly afterwards, the men were clustering in the shrouds, making their way as well as they could against the force of the wind, up the ratlines to the main-yard, the whole watch being employed on the job so as to get it done quickly.

    The White Squall A Story of the Sargasso Sea J. [Illustrator] Schonberg

  • At the time when the dreadful event which I have just related to you occurred, the Lark sloop, which brought the cargo of rum, was lying alongside of the Royal George; in going down, the main-yard of the Royal

    Thrilling Stories Of The Ocean From Authentic Accounts Of Modern Voyagers And Travellers; Designed For The Entertainment And Instruction Of Young People Marmaduke Park

  • They are named upon the same plan as the masts; for example, the main-yard, the fore-top-sail-yard, and so on.

    The Illustrated London Reading Book Various

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