main-topsail
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of main-topsail
First recorded in 1610–20
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.
Had there been the slightest chance of capturing the runaways the Captain would have backed the main-topsail, hove the ship to, and lowered the quarter-boat.
From Harper's Round Table, October 29, 1895 by Various
I am going to that poor fellow’s assistance, so back the main-topsail, if you please, and send the boat after us as quickly as you can.”
From The Voyage of the Aurora by Collingwood, Harry
“Ease away the fore-sheets; let fly the main-topsail; haul down the fore-staysail.”
From The Ruined Cities of Zululand by Walmsley, Hugh Mulleneux
In getting under way, you will help loose the main-topsail.
From Up The Baltic Young America in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark by Optic, Oliver
This delicate job was happily accomplished without mishap; and, the trysail being brailed in and stowed, the brig was then hove-to under close-reefed main-topsail and fore-topmast staysail.
From Dick Leslie's Luck A Story of Shipwreck and Adventure by Piffard, Harold
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.
