backstay

[bak-stey]

noun

Machinery. a supporting or checking piece in a mechanism.
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.
a strip of leather at the back of a shoe used for reinforcement and sometimes to connect the quarters.

Origin of backstay

First recorded in 1860–65; back¹ + stay²

backstay

[bak-stey]

noun

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.

Origin of backstay

First recorded in 1620–30; back¹ + stay³

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for backstay

Historical Examples of backstay

Yet he wondered why he could not reach out and grasp the backstay.
"Where Angels Fear to Tread" and Other Stories of the Sea
Morgan Robertson
In my fall I grappled with the backstay, and brought myself up, and landed on the cross-trees.
Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents and Strange Events
S. Baring-Gould
A piece of iron used instead of a chain to confine the dead-eye of the backstay to the after-channel.
The Sailor's Word-Book
William Henry Smyth
I accordingly slung the glass over my shoulder, swung myself off the yard on to the backstay, and so descended to the deck.
A Pirate of the Caribbees
Harry Collingwood
Cut away a brace or a backstay, now, aboard that Frenchman, and away would go a whole heap of his canvas.
Under the Meteor Flag
Harry Collingwood

British Dictionary definitions for backstay

backstay

noun

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012