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

Santa Maria's mainmast reaches 192 feet above the waterline, the mizzen to 158 feet.

From Time Magazine Archive

He lowers his mizzen and rejects her once again.

From Time Magazine Archive

Then, languidly raising his hairy legs and wagging them like flags, the old hand semaphored a request for jam to a pal in the port mizzen.

From Time Magazine Archive

Running aft, I was met by the second mate, who, handing me a coil of line, ordered me to go up and reeve the signal halliards in the mizzen truck.

From The Log of a Sea-Waif Being Recollections of the First Four Years of My Sea Life by Bullen, Frank T.