Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Nautical One of the two horizontal crosspieces at the upper ends of the lower masts in fore-and-aft-rigged vessels, serving to spread the shrouds.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Nautical, one of the horizontal pieces of timber or metal, supported by the cheeks and trestletrees, at the upper ends of the lower masts in fore-and-aft rigged vessels, and at the topmast-heads of square-rigged vessels. Their use is to extend the topmast- or topgallant-rigging, and to afford a standing-place for seamen. They are let into the trestletrees, and bolted to them.
Wiktionary
- n. nautical A light timber or metal spreader fixed athwartships part way up a mast to spread the shrouds from higher up
Examples
“crosstree," the preventer is misnamed the "vang," the spinnaker boom is rigged without any spinnaker shown, and the telltale is attached to the mainsail, where it is less likely to be as useful as on the jib.”
“Another time he dropped a steel marlinspike from the mizzen crosstree.”
“His fiends, stripped and whipped, was nailed like bat to barndoor, starved on crosstree, Who let Him bury, stood up, harrowed hell, fared into heaven and there these nineteen hundred years sitteth on the right hand of His Own Self but yet shall come in the latter day to doom the quick and dead when all the quick shall be dead already.”
“He cringed when he saw the neat white and black sign hanging from a crosstree on the lawn: Gold Coast Obedience School, and in smaller letters beneath: Police and Attack Training Our Specialty.”
“He crossed to the wagon and step-vaulted over the tongue and crosstree.”
“They paused beneath the crosstree, looking up at the dangling, twisting body.”
“When Hax and the gunslinger reached the top, the gunslinger threw the noosed rope over the crosstree and then put it over the cook's head, dropping the knot until it lay just below the left ear.”
“You do that," Moichi said grimly as he tied a knot to the crosstree.”
“She had not remembered him so tall with shoulders gaunt and wide like the crosstree of a gallows.”
“He was tall with shoulders as wide and square as the crosstree of a gallows, he stepped out of the shadow and came down the front steps into the sunlight.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘crosstree’.
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The Aubrey/Maturin List I'm Gonna Mak...
I'm wading through Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels one by one, and someday, I'll wade through them again and list all the words I learned while reading them.
Edit: I started ma...studdingsail, carronade, mumchance, grumlin-futtocks, crosscat-harpings, holystone, sennit, orlop, orchitis, negus, kevel, altumal and 1112 more...
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Cross My Heart
words and phrases containing cross
crosswise, crisscross, crosscut, across, crossword, crossbreed, cross-pollinate, double cross, crossroads, cross off, crosstown, sign of the cross and 93 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for crosstree.
chained_bear "Stephen did not address himself directly to Captain Aubrey, who was standing by the windward hances, his eyes fixed on the maintopmast crosstrees, for that would have been improper..."
--Patrick O'Brian, The Ionian Mission, 237 Feb 14, 2008