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fore-topgallant mast

American  

noun

  1. the spar or section of a spar forming the topgallant portion of a foremast on a ship.

Etymology

Origin of fore-topgallant mast

First recorded in 1620–30

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.

When we came down off the yards, we saw that she had shortened sail, but not before she also had carried away her fore-topgallant mast.

From Will Weatherhelm The Yarn of an Old Sailor by Webb, Archibald

This Arctic scene causes our captain and his officers to look rather serious, and they mount at times to the fore-topgallant mast.

From God's Answers A Record of Miss Annie Macpherson's Work at the Home of Industry, Spitalfields, London, and in Canada by Lowe, Clara M. S.

A great one to carry sail; yet in the sixteen years of his commands he had had no more serious accident than the loss of a fore-topgallant mast or splitting a couple of courses.

From Java Head by Hergesheimer, Joseph

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.