backstay

¹

[ bak-stey ]

noun

1. Machinery. a supporting or checking piece in a mechanism.
2. Building Trades. an anchored tension member, as a cable, permanently or temporarily supporting a compression member, as a tower or pole, subject to a pull above its base from the opposite direction.
3. a strip of leather at the back of a shoe used for reinforcement and sometimes to connect the quarters.

backstay

²

[ bak-stey ]

noun

1. Nautical. any of various shrouds forming part of a vessel's standing rigging and leading aft from masts above a lower mast to the sides or stern of the vessel in order to reinforce the masts against forward pull.

backstay

/ ˈbækˌsteɪ /

noun

1. nautical a stay leading aft from the upper part of a mast to the deck or stern
2. machinery a supporting piece or arresting part
3. anything that supports or strengthens the back of something, such as leather covering the back seam of a shoe

Word History and Origins

Origin of backstay¹

First recorded in 1860–65; back ¹ + stay ²

Origin of backstay²

First recorded in 1620–30; back ¹ + stay ³

Example Sentences

An external carbon backstay boosts precision on the way down.

From Outside Online

In my fall I grappled with the backstay, and brought myself up, and landed on the cross-trees.

From Project Gutenberg

Just as he spoke, Tommy Rebow was hunting the animal from shroud to backstay, up over the mast-head and down again.

From Project Gutenberg

But Ulysses lashed the keel to the mast with the backstay, and on these he sat, borne by the winds across the sea.

From Project Gutenberg

He kept his clutch on the backstay with the dizzy notion that this saved him from clutching some one's throat.

From Project Gutenberg

Several long shots had struck the mast, and almost every shroud and backstay had been carried away.

From Project Gutenberg