headfast
Britishnoun
Etymology
Origin of headfast
C16: from head (in the sense: front) + fast a mooring rope, from Middle English fest, from Old Norse festr; related to fast 1
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.
In nautical Spanish prois or proiza is a breastfast or headfast, that is a large cable for fastening a ship to a wharf or another ship.
From The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot, 985-1503 by Julius E. Olson
In this lay the danger of making fast, for a strong pull from a headfast rope might drag the erection completely over.
From The Hand of Ethelberta by Thomas Hardy
At the same time Dow had requested Mr. Sidebotham, his Majesty's officer in the Isle of Man, to cast off the Sincerity's headfast and sternfasts from the shore.
From King's Cutters and Smugglers 1700-1855 by E. Keble (Edward Keble) Chatterton
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.
