standing rigging

American  

noun

Nautical.

1. rigging remaining permanently in position as a means of steadying various spars, shrouds, stays, etc. (contrasted with running rigging).

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standing rigging British  

noun

1. the stays, shrouds, and other more or less fixed, though adjustable, wires and ropes that support the masts of a sailing vessel Compare running rigging

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Etymology

Origin of standing rigging

First recorded in 1740–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

standing rigging

The frames are oak, the planking Oregon pine, the decks canvas-covered spruce, the standing rigging stainless steel.

From Time Magazine Archive

Every day a gang of us were taken ashore to fit up the standing rigging.

From The Story of a Strange Career Being the Autobiography of a Convict; an Authentic Document by Anonymous

Some of the standing rigging had given way, and they could hear the masts creak.

From World's End A Story in Three Books by Richard Jefferies

The amount of work involved in getting the long, heavy spar into position, with all its jungle of standing rigging, which looks to the uninstructed eye a hopeless mass of entanglement, is enormous.

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

The standing rigging is the whole assemblage of ropes by which the masts are supported.

From All Afloat A Chronicle of Craft and Waterways by William Charles Henry Wood