mizzen

American  

[miz-uhn] / ˈmɪz ən /

Or mizen

noun

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

2. mizzenmast.

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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

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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

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

Then came word that a freighter had discovered Crowhurst's yacht, ghosting along under its mizzen but still seaworthy, mysteriously abandoned in mid-Atlantic.

From Time Magazine Archive

To its critics, it seemed a perfectly preserved specimen of 19th century British culture, like a sailing ship in a sealed bottle�even to the Union Jack at the mizzen top.

From Time Magazine Archive

After this defection the Golden Hinde took the place of the Vice-Admiral, and hoisted her flag from the mizzen to the foretop.

From Great Ralegh by Selincourt, Hugh de