Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. The principal mast of a sailing vessel.
- n. The taller mast, whether forward or aft, of a two-masted sailing vessel.
- n. The second mast aft of a sailing ship with three or more masts.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. The chief, and tallest mast of a sailing ship that has more than one mast.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. The principal mast in a ship or other vessel.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Nautical, the principal mast in a ship or other vessel.
- n. plural The lower topmast and topgallantmasts of the mast next abaft the foremast.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. the chief mast of a sailing vessel with two or more masts
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Examples
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The mainmast was a wreck; the shrouds on the port side having been torn from the gunwale the second day of the storm, and the entire deck was one mass of debris and wreckage.
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"If we attempt it, Sir, we shall lose them, for a man aloft can do nothing; besides their being down would ease the ship very little; the mainmast is a sprung mast; I wish it was overboard without carrying any thing else along with it; but that can soon be done, the gale cannot last for ever; 'twill soon be daylight now."
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At the top of the mainmast is a fighting top from which project two large spears.
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Fastened by chains to the mainmast were a number of grisly staghounds, who now began leaping and barking at me, and by the mizzen a huge puma was cramped in a little iron cage far too small even to give it turning room.
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The hooker needed no looking after in such weather as this, and the only individual, beside ourselves, abaft the mainmast was the helmsman.
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Paul did not think so; but he made no reply to the angry man, though he ordered the alleged culprit to the mainmast, which is the locality of the high court on shipboard.
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At the dark end of the first day we returned, exhausted, to our little cove, towing the mainmast behind us.
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I can see it now, the water-tank, the mainmast, the gang hanging on to him, the hatchet descending on the back of his head, and all under the blazing sunlight.
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The fifth sailor, rifle in hand, was standing guard by the water-tank just for'ard of the mainmast.
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I knew it, and without one serious hitch, I had the mainmast stepped.
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