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main-sheet, ˈmainsheet Naut.
1. The rope which secures the mainsail when set.
1485Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 48 Mayne shetes. a1637B. Jonson Discov., De orationis dign., The main-sheet and the boulin. 1694Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1711) 163 We..veered out the main-Sheet to ware the Ship. 1762Falconer Shipwr. ii. 27 Let the main-sheet fly! 1862Marsh Eng. Lang. xi. 164 A sailor will not be likely to interlard his go-ashore talk with clew-lines, main-sheets, and halliards.
fig.a1575Gascoigne Dan Bartholomew Posies Flowers 80 Yet hauld I in the mayne-sheate of the minde.
b. attrib., as main-sheet-block, main-sheet-horse.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Mainsheet-horse, a kind of iron dog fixed at the middle of a wooden beam, stretching across a craft's stern, from one quarter stanchion to the other; on it the mainsheet-block travels.
2. Jamaica slang. (See first quot.)
1882Pall Mall G. 20 May 4/2 Main-sheet is weak rum-and-water..and it seems to derive its quaintly expressive name from the native habit of taking constant pulls at it all day long. 1890Blackw. Mag. June 784 An old man invited to have a drink of mainsheet. |