mainmast

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree English main English mast English mainmast From main + mast.

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.”

   “Then turning to his first Minister, who waited behind him with a white Staff near as tall as the Main-mast of the Royal Soveraign, he observed how contemptible a thing was human Grandeur, which could be mimicked by such diminutive Insects as I […]”

2. The second-foremost mast of a non-sailing ship with more than one mast.