Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A man shipped before the mast; a forecastleman.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • From this one poor hunt, then, the best lance out of all Nantucket, surely he will not hang back, when every foremast-hand has clutched a whetstone.

    Moby Dick; or the Whale 2002

  • From this one poor hunt, then, the best lance out of all Nantucket, surely he will not hang back, when every foremast-hand has clutched a whetstone?

    Moby Dick, or, the whale Herman Melville 1855

  • From this one poor hunt, then, the best lance out of all Nantucket, surely he will not hang back, when every foremast-hand has clutched a whetstone.

    Moby Dick: or, the White Whale Herman Melville 1855

  • From this one poor hunt, then, the best lance out of all Nantucket, surely he will not hang back, when every foremast-hand has clutched a whetstone?

    Moby-Dick, or, The Whale 1851

  • The house-servant may be more liked and trusted than the out-door servant; but we think, at sea, it is more honourable to be a foremast-hand than to be in the cabin, unless as an officer.

    Miles Wallingford Sequel to "Afloat and Ashore" James Fenimore Cooper 1820

  • I should despise myself to take less than falls to the share of the best foremast-hand in a ship, since it would be all the same as owning that I got my deserts.

    The Red Rover James Fenimore Cooper 1820

  • "That was too hard a question at the time for a skipper to ask of a foremast-hand, so I said nothing, but did a lot of thinking.

    The Grain Ship Morgan Robertson 1888

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