fore-topsail

[ fohr-top-seyl, fawr-; Nautical fohr-top-suhl, fawr- ]

noun

a topsail set on a foremast on a ship.

Origin of fore-topsail

First recorded in 1575–85

Words Nearby fore-topsail

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use fore-topsail in a sentence

On the 10th of January, it was impossible to work our fore-topsail.
Celebrated Travels and Travellers | Jules Verne
Then there was a dull explosion heard even above the gale, and the fore-topsail split into ribbons.
A Chapter of Adventures | G. A. Henty
At the second broadside, down came her fore-topsail-yard, followed soon afterwards by the fore-topmast.
True Blue | W.H.G. Kingston
The foreyard had been sprung, or True Blue would have brought the vessel to under her fore-topsail.
True Blue | W.H.G. Kingston
The topsail-yard being fished, set the fore topsail standing for the enemy's fleet; people employed repairing the rigging.
Memoirs and Correspondence of Admiral Lord de Saumarez. Vol II | Sir John Ross

British Dictionary definitions for fore-topsail

fore-topsail

/ (fɔːˈtɒpˌseɪl, nautical fɔːˈtɒpsəl) /

noun

nautical a sail set on a fore-topmast

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

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