masthead

American  

[mast-hed, mahst-] / ˈmæstˌhɛd, ˈmɑst- /

noun

1. Also called flag.  a statement printed in all issues of a newspaper, magazine, or the like, usually on the editorial page, giving the publication's name, the names of the owner and staff, etc.

2. Also called nameplate.  a line of type on the front page of a newspaper or the cover of a periodical giving the name of the publication.

3. Nautical.

   1. the head of a mast.

   2. the uppermost point of a mast.

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verb (used with object)

Nautical.

• mastheads,
  present (3rd person singular)
• mastheaded,
  past participle,  past
• mastheading
  present participle

1. to hoist a yard to the fullest extent.

2. to hoist to the truck of a mast, as a flag.

3. to send to the upper end of a mast as a punishment.

adjective

1. Nautical. run up to the head of a mast.

   masthead rig.

masthead British  

/ ˈmɑːstˌhɛd /

noun

1. nautical

   1. the head of a mast

   2. ( as modifier )

      masthead sail

2. Also called: flag.  the name of a newspaper or periodical, its proprietors, staff, etc, printed in large type at the top of the front page

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verb

1. to send (a sailor) to the masthead as a punishment

2. to raise (a sail) to the masthead

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• mastheading
  present
• mastheaded
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• masthead
  simple
• mastheads
  simple
• have mastheaded
  perfect
• has mastheaded
  perfect
• am mastheading
  progressive
• are mastheading
  progressive
• is mastheading
  progressive
• have been mastheading
  perfect progressive
• has been mastheading
  perfect progressive

Past

• mastheaded
  simple
• had mastheaded
  perfect
• was mastheading
  progressive
• were mastheading
  progressive
• had been mastheading
  perfect progressive

Future

• will masthead
  simple
• will have mastheaded
  perfect
• will be mastheading
  progressive
• will have been mastheading
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of masthead

First recorded in 1740–50; mast ¹ + head

Explanation

In publishing, a masthead is a list at the top of a page that includes the names of editors, writers, and owners, as well as the title of the newspaper or magazine. You'll usually find the masthead on one of the first few pages. In the UK, a masthead is slightly different: it's the title page, also known in the US as the "nameplate." American publications include editorial and ownership information on the masthead, while their British counterparts call this the "imprint." The sense of a masthead as the "top of a newspaper or magazine" comes from the word's original meaning, "top of a ship," from mast, "long pole that holds a ship's sail."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

masthead mastheads mastheaded

“You could still kind of make out the word Wired across the top of the masthead and something about that just blew me away,” Cooley says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026

More than a year after he bought the Times, Soon-Shiong met with masthead editors, discussing the paper’s plans over Chinese takeout.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026

And even if you can’t make the meetings, you’ll come to know your local paper’s masthead.

From Salon ● Dec. 3, 2025

Even The National Herald, founded by India's first prime minister and Indira Gandhi's father Jawaharlal Nehru, quietly dropped its masthead slogan: "Freedom is in peril, defend it with all your might."

From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2025

When I had finished I lashed the oar in a vertical position to the inside of one of the corners of the raft, flat part, the masthead, rising in the air, handle disappearing underwater.

From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel

Some of these jobs have begun to go extinct, at least on official mastheads.

From Slate ● Apr. 12, 2023

And Raphael Nash Thompson has an amusing scene, playing a bohemian painter who comes up with eccentric mock-ups of newspaper mastheads.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 27, 2023

He wrote: "Like other mastheads do every day, we simply asked questions and as standard practice included a deadline for a response."

From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2022

Collectively, the South Jersey Times, Courier Post and Daily Journal list a total of 13 news reporters on their mastheads, covering a four-county region that has a population of just over 1 million.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 10, 2021

He had scarcely uttered these words when the almost imperceptible forms of the sailors were seen on the mastheads.

From The Fourth Estate, vol.1 by Armando Palacio Vald?s

Your yards stay mastheaded mostly by force o' habit, hey?

From Mr. Trunnell, Mate of the Ship "Pirate" by T. Jenkins (Thornton Jenkins) Hains

And in this stretch of ocean, lookouts were mastheaded at day-dawn and kept mastheaded until twilight of evening, when the Mary Turner was hove-to, to hold her position through the night. 

From Michael, Brother of Jerry by Jack London

Then came the order for the t'gallantsail, and by the time that was mastheaded, the skipper followed with orders for royals, fore and aft.

From Mr. Trunnell, Mate of the Ship "Pirate" by T. Jenkins (Thornton Jenkins) Hains

In a trice, it would seem, her three topsails were mastheaded and the foretopsail laid to the mast.

From Doubloons—and the Girl by John Maxwell Forbes

The other sloops then mastheaded their topsails, and the schooners peaked their gaffs.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 05, No. 29, March, 1860 by Various