Dictionary

mainmastman en · NOUN

Etymology

From mainmast + -man.

Meanings

1. A sailor assigned to the mainmast
   • Now there was a veteran aboard who because his years began to disqualify him for more active work had been recently assigned duty as mainmastman in his watch, looking to the gear belayed at the rail roundabout that great spar near the deck. 1924, Herman Melville, chapter 8, in Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co.:
   • Twenty-two years ago David Harrington was mainmastman on the Saint Ann out of Gloucester, Mass., a 62-foot Desco wood shrimp boat rigged for purse seining and built in 1954 for Capt. Leo Favalora. 1979, Fishing Gazette, volume 96:
   • […] the mainmastmen unhook the tackles when the barrels are landed. 1863, William H. Parker, Questions on Practical Seamanship: together with harbor routine and evolutions prepared for the midshipmen of the C. S. Navy, Richmond, Virginia, page 40:

Forms