yardarm

[yahrd-ahrm]

noun Nautical.

either of the outer portions of the yard of a square sail.

Nearby words

Origin of yardarm

First recorded in 1545–55; yard¹ + arm¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for yardarm

If we do not get to Tarragona by four o'clock this afternoon, I will have you hung from the yardarm.
The White Plumes of Navarre|Samuel Rutherford Crockett
"I should like to see your owner dangling from the yardarm," the major said, wrathfully.
With Moore at Corunna|G. A. Henty
Looking up, he saw a ball of fire running along a yardarm near the top of the mast.
A Chinese Wonder Book|Norman Hinsdale Pitman
A rope was got and the end of it was flung over the yardarm, and a running noose made in it.
Jack Harkaway and His Son's Escape From the Brigand's of Greece|Bracebridge Hemyng

Not a word was now spoken except by the master as he issued his orders from the yardarm.
Won from the Waves|W.H.G. Kingston

British Dictionary definitions for yardarm

yardarm

noun

nautical the two tapering outer ends of a ship's yard

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for yardarm

yardarm

also yard-arm, 1550s, from yard (n.2) + arm (n.1). In 19c. British naval custom, it was permissible to begin drinking when the sun was over the yard-arm.