backstay
backstay noun: a part of the rigging of a sailing ship extending from the top of the mast (masthead) to the back of the ship; they support the strain on all upper masts and provide additional support to the shrouds when the wind is abaft the beam.
Noun
backstay (plural backstays)
- A part of the rigging of a sailing ship extending from the top of the mast (masthead) to the back of the ship; they support the strain on all upper masts and provide additional support to the shrouds when the wind is abaft the beam.
- A strengthening or supporting piece that is built into the back of something.
Forms of backstay
| plural | backstays |
|---|
Origin of backstay
From back + stay.
Questions about backstay
- What does backstay mean?
- Backstay means a part of the rigging of a sailing ship extending from the top of the mast (masthead) to the back of the ship; they support the strain on all upper masts and provide additional support to the shrouds when the wind is abaft the beam.
- What part of speech is backstay?
- Backstay is a noun.
- What is the plural of backstay?
- The plural of backstay is backstays.
Words near backstay in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: backstay (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-backstay.wav.
Cite this entry: “backstay.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/backstay. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.