fore-topsail
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of fore-topsail
First recorded in 1575–85
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.
Down came her fore-topsail, the rigging cut and torn in many places, and, as the American again showed her heels, the British captain cried out, “All sail aloft and catch the saucy and insolent privateer!”
From Famous Privateersmen and Adventurers of the Sea Their rovings, cruises, escapades, and fierce battling upon the ocean for patriotism and for treasure by Johnston, Charles Haven Ladd
The wind was blowing fresh from the southwest, and I was not a little astonished to see that her crew were shaking out her fore-topsail.
From Up the River or, Yachting on the Mississippi by Optic, Oliver
However, I gained my lofty perch at last, and, lying prone in the top in order that I might see under the foot of the fore-topsail, soon again caught sight of the object.
From The Cruise of the "Esmeralda" by Overend, William Heysham
Towards morning a loud report was heard, as if a gun had been fired on board: the fore-topsail had been blown from the bolt-ropes.
From Jack Buntline by Kingston, William Henry Giles
Just then we were making fourteen knots, with only a foresail, a fore-topsail, and main-topsail, the latter two close-reefed.
From Medical Life in the Navy by Stables, Gordon
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.
