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

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

From Time Magazine Archive

Steel forms their boilers, their propeller shafts, their hulls, their masts and spars, their standing rigging, their cable chains and anchors, and also their guns and armour-plating.

From The Romance of Industry and Invention by Cochrane, Robert

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 Wood, William Charles Henry

Her yards were canted, her masts sloped forward instead of aft, her standing rigging was loose and weather-rotted.

From The Ice Pilot by Leverage, Henry

Crucible wire is used for standing rigging and flexible wire for purchases, etc.

From Knots, Bends, Splices With tables of strengths of ropes, etc. and wire rigging by Jutsum, J. Netherclift