main·mast

(mān′məst, -măst′)

1. The principal mast of a sailing vessel.

2. The taller mast, whether forward or aft, of a two-masted sailing vessel.

3. The second mast aft on a sailing ship with three or more masts.

4. The lower section of such a mast.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

mainmast

(ˈmeɪnˌmɑːst)

(Nautical Terms) nautical the chief mast of a sailing vessel with two or more masts, being the foremast of a yawl, ketch, or dandy and the second mast from the bow of most others

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

main•mast

(ˈmeɪnˌmæst, -ˌmɑst; Naut. -məst)

n.

the second mast from forward in any ship having two or more masts, except for a yawl or ketch.

[1475–85]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

mainmast - the chief mast of a sailing vessel with two or more masts

mast - a vertical spar for supporting sails

Translations

isomasto

albero maestro

грот-мачта

mainmast

[ˈmeɪnmɑːst] N → palo m mayor

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

mainmast

[ˈmeɪnˌmɑːst] n → albero maestro

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

The schooner, with a triangular riding-sail on the mainmast, played easily at anchor, and except for the man by the cabin-roof - "house" they call it - she was deserted.

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But once, the mood was on him too deep for common regardings; and as with heavy, lumber-like pace he was measuring the ship from taffrail to mainmast, Stubb, the odd second mate, came up from below, and with a certain unassured, deprecating humorousness, hinted that if Captain Ahab was pleased to walk the planks, then, no one could say nay; but there might be some way of muffling the noise; hinting something indistinctly and hesitatingly about a globe of tow, and the insertion into it, of the ivory heel.

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The fifth sailor, rifle in hand, was standing guard by the water-tank just for'ard of the mainmast. I was for'ard, putting in the finishing licks on a new jaw for the fore-gaff.

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Fastened by chains to the mainmast were a number of grisly staghounds, who now began leaping and barking at me, and by the mizzen a huge puma was cramped in a little iron cage far too small even to give it turning room.

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We remained there about thirteen days, got some refreshment on shore, and put to sea again, though we met with very bad weather again, in which the ship sprung her mainmast, as they called it, for I knew not what they meant.

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Antwerp at the bottom, in letters as tall as the mainmast.

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He withdrew, almost tottering in his gait, and nearly stumbled against the mainmast of the ship.

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There was the mainmast, fifteen inches in diameter at what was now the butt, still sixty-five feet in length, and weighing, I roughly calculated, at least three thousand pounds.

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As she righted sluggishly, the mainmast swayed drunkenly in the air but did not fall.

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Her topmast, laden with victims, now appeared; then her spars, bending under the weight of men; and, last of all, the top of her mainmast. Then the dark mass disappeared, and with it the dead crew, drawn down by the strong eddy.

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Abaft the mainmast the deck-pump was being ceaselessly worked by relays of the passengers; dry blankets were passed forward, soaking blankets were passed aft, and flung flat into the furnace one after another.

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In their midst the central steeple towers proudly up like the mainmast of some great Indiaman among a fleet of coasters.

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