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.
An attempt was now made to use the rocket apparatus, and a rocket was fired, which went clean through the fore-topsail and to the poop of the vessel behind.
From Heroes of the Goodwin Sands by Treanor, Thomas Stanley
I know her by the token that her fore-topsail hath got a round patch of lighter canvas in it.
From The Golden Galleon BEING A NARRATIVE OF THE ADVENTURES OF MASTER GILBERT OGLANDER, AND OF HOW, IN THE YEAR 1591, HE FOUGHT UNDER THE GALLANT SIR by Leighton, Robert
She sees it too; there goes her fore-topsail.
From The Ruined Cities of Zululand by Walmsley, Hugh Mulleneux
We accordingly went about, and two hands were then stationed on the fore-topsail yard to keep a lookout for wreckage, while a third laid out as far as the flying-jib-boom end for the same purpose.
From The Cruise of the "Esmeralda" by Overend, William Heysham
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
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.
