mizzen

American  

[miz-uhn] / ˈmɪz ən /

Or mizen

noun

1. a fore-and-aft sail set on a mizzenmast.

2. mizzenmast.

---

adjective

1. of or relating to a mizzenmast.

2. noting a sail, yard, boom, etc., or any rigging belonging to a mizzen lower mast or to some upper mast of a mizzenmast.

3. noting any stay running aft and upward to the head of a mizzen lower mast or some specified upper mast of a mizzenmast.

   mizzen topmast stay.

mizzen British  

/ ˈmɪzən /

noun

1. a sail set on a mizzenmast

2. short for mizzenmast

---

adjective

1. of or relating to any kind of gear used with a mizzenmast

   a mizzen staysail

Etymology

Origin of mizzen

1375–1425; late Middle English meson, mesan, probably < Italian mezzana

Example Sentences

I now have to keep fencing with Accrux while I have managed to throw your sword flying and getting stuck into the mizzen mast.

From Economist • Nov. 15, 2012

He lowers his mizzen and rejects her once again.

From Time Magazine Archive

Isabel and the Sea will make even a coal miner imagine himself "running free under number-two jib, staysail, mainsail, and mizzen . . . setting course for the volcanic island of Stromboli."

From Time Magazine Archive

The greatest living hero of the sea, 70-year-old Sir Francis Chichester sailed slowly back toward England under foresails and mizzen, his mainsail furled �out of the 54-ship transatlantic race that began June 17.

From Time Magazine Archive

Then the wreck of the mizzen was cut away, and the frigate was taken in tow by the Agile, her own sails being left standing to relieve the strain on the hawsers.

From A Roving Commission Or, Through the Black Insurrection at Hayti by Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)