Word.ws English Dictionary

main-mast

main-mast is the alternative spelling of mainmast.

Meaning of mainmast

Noun

mainmast (plural mainmasts)

  1. The tallest mast of a sailing ship that has more than one mast; particularly a full-rigged ship.
    • O, the most piteous cry of the poor souls! sometimes to see ’em, and not to see ’em; now the ship boring the moon with her main-mast, and anon swallowed with yest and froth, as you’ld thrust a cork into a hogshead.c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
  2. The second-foremost mast of a non-sailing ship with more than one mast.

Forms of main-mast

pluralmain-masts

Questions about main-mast

What is main-mast the alternative spelling of?
Main-mast is the alternative spelling of mainmast.

Words near main-mast in the dictionary

  1. main-character syndrome
  2. main-deck
  3. main-decks
  4. main-gauche
  5. main-line
  6. main-mast
  7. main-masts
  8. main-sequence star
  9. main-sequence stars
  10. main-topmast
  11. main-topmasts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: main-mast (page history and authors); mainmast (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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Cite this entry: “main-mast.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/main-mast. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.