crosstree en · NOUN
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der.? Proto-Italic *kruks /*krukis Latin cruxbor. Old Irish crosbor. Old Norse krossbor. Old English cros Middle English cross English cross Proto-Indo-European *drew- Proto-Indo-European *-om Proto-Germanic *trewą Proto-West Germanic *treu Old English trēow Middle English tre English tree English crosstree From cross + tree.
Meanings
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(in-plural) A timber or metal beam fixed athwartships part way up a mast to spread the rigging.
She was wearing the Red Ensign at her cross-trees and the Stars and Stripes aft and she was making about three knots through the twenty-foot opening of the reef.
1954, Ian Fleming, “Beau Desert”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 197:Your most usual point of perch is the head of the t’ gallant-mast, where you stand upon two thin parallel sticks (almost peculiar to whalemen) called the t’ gallant crosstrees.
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 35”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| cross-tree | alternative | lexicographic | |
| crosstrees | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Translations (6)
he קֵרוּי עֵרֶב (beam to spread rigging) · nl zaling (beam to spread rigging) · pl saling (beam to spread rigging) · fi saalinki (beam to spread rigging) · de Saling (beam to spread rigging) · ru са́линг (beam to spread rigging)