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

Her standing rigging, being of wire, was merely rusted, but her running gear was something too appalling to think about.

From The Recipe for Diamonds by Hyne, Charles John Cutcliffe Wright

Chain′-plates, on shipboard, iron plates bolted below the channels to serve as attachments for the dead-eyes, through which the standing rigging or shrouds and back-stays are rove and secured.—ns.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

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

A piece of stiff hide, or batten of wood, placed over the backstays fore-swifter of the shrouds, &c., so as to secure the standing rigging from being chafed.

From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Belcher, Edward, Sir