backstay

[ bak-stey ]

/ ˈbækˌsteɪ /

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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.

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Origin of backstay

First recorded in 1860–65; back¹ + stay²

Words nearby backstay

backstab, back-stabbing, back staff, backstage, backstairs, backstay, backstitch, backstop, backstory, back straight, backstrap loom

Other definitions for backstay (2 of 2)

backstay²

[ bak-stey ]

/ ˈbækˌsteɪ /

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

How to use backstay in a sentence

An external carbon backstay boosts precision on the way down.
The Best Splitboarding Gear of 2022|jversteegh|October 26, 2021|Outside Online
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
Just as he spoke, Tommy Rebow was hunting the animal from shroud to backstay, up over the mast-head and down again.
Sunshine Bill|W H G Kingston
But Ulysses lashed the keel to the mast with the backstay, and on these he sat, borne by the winds across the sea.
Stories of the Old world|Alfred John Church

He kept his clutch on the backstay with the dizzy notion that this saved him from clutching some one's throat.
The Skipper and the Skipped|Holman Day
Several long shots had struck the mast, and almost every shroud and backstay had been carried away.
Pike & Cutlass|George Gibbs

British Dictionary definitions for backstay

backstay

/ (ˈbækˌsteɪ) /

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