Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The principal mast of a sailing vessel.
  • noun The taller mast, whether forward or aft, of a two-masted sailing vessel.
  • noun The second mast aft of a sailing ship with three or more masts.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun plural The lower topmast and topgallantmasts of the mast next abaft the foremast.
  • noun Nautical, the principal mast in a ship or other vessel.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Naut.) The principal mast in a ship or other vessel.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The chief, and tallest mast of a sailing ship that has more than one mast.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the chief mast of a sailing vessel with two or more masts

Etymologies

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Examples

  • 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.

    The Island of Doctor Moreau Herbert George 2006

  • At the top of the mainmast is a fighting top from which project two large spears.

    A Short Account of King's College Chapel Walter Poole Littlechild

  • 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.

    The Wonder Island Boys: The Tribesmen Roger Thompson Finlay

  • "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."

    Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy A weird series of tales of shipwreck and disaster, from the earliest part of the century to the present time, with accounts of providential escapes and heart-rending fatalities. Anonymous

  • 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.

    The Island of Doctor Moreau 1906

  • 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.

    The Strange Face Herbert George 1896

  • 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.

    The Island of Doctor Moreau Herbert George 1896

  • The hooker needed no looking after in such weather as this, and the only individual, beside ourselves, abaft the mainmast was the helmsman.

    The Castaways Harry Collingwood 1886

  • 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.

    Dikes and Ditches Young America in Holland and Belguim Oliver Optic 1859

  • At the dark end of the first day we returned, exhausted, to our little cove, towing the mainmast behind us.

    Chapter 36 2010

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