main brace
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of main brace
First recorded in 1480–90
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Tailing onto the heavy rope of the main brace was a runty, down-cheeked lad of 16 named Jimmy Bisset.
From Time Magazine Archive
From England, King George personally ordered an extra round of grog for all hands with the time-honored phrase: "Splice the main brace."
From Time Magazine Archive
He can actually splice the main brace and I feel sure that must be a most arduous undertaking; requiring much skill and intelligence.
From The Life of a Celebrated Buccaneer A Page of Past History for the Use of the Children of To-day by Clynton, Richard
The boats were then hoisted up, the battery run in and secured, and the main brace spliced.
From The Cruise of the Alabama and the Sumter by Semmes, Raphael
The sailors do not laugh at him outright; but of dark nights they jeer, when they hearken to that mantuamaker's voice ordering a strong pull at the main brace, or hands by the halyards!
From White Jacket or, the World on a Man-of-War by Melville, Herman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
