Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To remove or break off the mast of.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To deprive of a mast or masts; break and carry away the masts from: as, a dismasted ship.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To deprive of a mast of masts; to break and carry away the masts from.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
break off themast (of aship ), especially bygunfire .
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word dismast.
Examples
-
They can pour round shot into us, they can tear our rigging to pieces with chain and bar, they can dismast us, and what can we do in return?
Sharpe's Trafalgar Cornwell, Bernard, 1944- 2000
-
So I was busy, -- but managed to dismast the _hantu_ prau and wrap it up in matting, so that it went aboard with the plunder.
The Spinner's Book of Fiction Various
-
Each dhow as she was cleared had to make for the shore and dismast or beach so that she could not steal out at night and add to the difficulties of the blockade.
-
"Amos and Jimmie Starkweather were all for sailing off this morning to bring the dory home," he continued, "but a boatload of the 'Somerset's' men stopped them and sent them ashore, threatening to dismast any sloop that put up a sail in this harbor without their permission."
A Little Maid of Province Town Alice Turner Curtis 1912
-
At any rate, it was a harmless eccentricity, and may the god of gales, who took him away so abruptly between New Zealand and the Horn, let his soul rest in some Paradise of true seamen, where no amount of carrying on will ever dismast a ship!
The Mirror of the Sea Joseph Conrad 1890
-
An Australian aircraft flew over Sunderland on Friday, reporting that her yacht had been dismast and they believe the keel had been detached.
-
The older aluminum ones had a tendency to crack and if not caught in time, you can dismast the boat.
Armed Canadian 2009
-
The first thing seen by the anxious watchers on the ship's deck was the proa crowding sail out of the harbour, a sight which filled them with the keenest anxiety; and Ned, thinking it possible that his friends might at that moment be prisoners on board the vessel, was busying himself in making preparations to open fire upon her, with the hope that he might be able to dismast her and so frustrate her attempt to escape, when his mind was set at rest by the sight of the punt pulling off to him with Manners and Nicholls in her.
The Missing Merchantman Harry Collingwood 1886
-
“But if she’s clean below, and doesn’t dismast or fall apart under the strain, and if we avoid digging her bow and flipping fore-and-aft — we might just be able to make it in thirty-six hours.”
Conqueror's Moon May, Julian 2003
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.