| 释义 |
† ˈfore-staff Naut. Obs.
[f. fore- prefix + staff.]
= cross-staff 2 (see quot. 1867).
1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. ii. 82 Thus I have shewed you how to take an Observation by the Fore-Staff. 1719Halley in Phil. Trans. XXX. 993 The Moon was not too high to be well observed with a Forestaff. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Arbalette, a cross-staff or fore-staff. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Fore-staff, an instrument formerly used at sea for taking the altitudes of heavenly bodies..takes its name hence, that the observer in using it turns his face towards the object, in contradistinction to the back-staff. |