Showing results for "rigging"

• present participle of rig.

rigging

American  

[rig-ing] / ˈrɪg ɪŋ /

noun

riggings plural

1. the ropes, chains, etc., employed to support and work the masts, yards, sails, etc., on a ship.

2. lifting or hauling tackle.

3. Informal. clothing.

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rigging British  

/ ˈrɪɡɪŋ /

noun

1. the shrouds, stays, halyards, etc, of a vessel

2. the bracing wires, struts, and lines of a biplane, balloon, etc

3. any form of lifting gear, tackle, etc

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• riggings
  plural

Etymology

Origin of rigging

First recorded in 1480–90; rig + -ing ¹

Explanation

Everything on a sailboat or ship that holds the sails up is its rigging. The rigging typically includes masts and ropes. Sometimes the term rigging is used for just about everything on a sailing vessel, including the sails themselves. You can also use this noun for the process of adjusting or setting up these parts, either on a ship or an airship, parachute, or hang-glider. Rigging comes from the verb rig, which was originally nautical and meant just "to fit with sails."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rigging riggings

Meta, meanwhile, is still going strong but has experienced its own earthquakes: from privacy scandals and election rigging accusations to teen mental health crises and toxic online harms.

From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026

Prediction markets have spurred repeated allegations of skulduggery in recent months, ranging from insider trading by politicians to suspected rigging of bets on the Ukraine war.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026

Instead, they were allegedly responsible for the outright rigging of games—and persuaded more than three dozen players to go along with it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles said there was no overlap between the D.A.’s election rigging case and the bribery case against Galvan.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 3, 2026

She had noticed him often, his thin wiry figure swinging easily hand over hand up the rigging, his sandy, sun-bleached head bent over a coil of rope.

From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare

Instead, firefighters responded to the scene with ropes and riggings and rappelled down to the man’s location.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 15, 2022

And parts of the fly system, made up of wire rope lines and riggings, had rusted.

From New York Times ● Sep. 10, 2021

After boarding their ships, the players unfurled sails, turned rudders, and climbed riggings to move between a series of tropical islands, climbing ashore to explore the new locations.

From The Verge ● Jun. 13, 2016

The pulleys and riggings of the mine at night, after the first snow.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 12, 2015

Imagine that by some miracle of dread or reverence they lowered their spyglasses, turned, set their riggings, sailed on.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver