maintopsailn.
/ˌmeɪnˈtɒpseɪl/, /ˌmeɪnˈtɒpsl/, U.S. /ˈˌmeɪnˈtɑpˌseɪl/ Nautical.
The sail above the mainsail.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > masts, rigging, or sails > sail > [noun] > topsail > on mainmast
maintopsail1618
1495 in M. Oppenheim Naval Accts. & Inventories Henry VII (1896) 277 For the makyng of oon Bonette to the foresayle & a Boneaventure Sayle with Reparacioun of the mayne sayles foresayle spretesayle mayne Toppe Sayle.
1580 H. Smith Log 25 July in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (1903) III. 290 We..went with our foresaile & mainetopsaile.
1618 News of Rauleigh (1844) 16 If the Maister..bid heaue out the maine Top-saile.
1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. v. 170 The weather proved squally, and we split our maintop-sail.
1884 D. Pae Eustace 137 Her main topsail is shivering.
1912 J. Conrad Secret Sharer ii, in 'Twixt Land & Sea 138 He stood there with me on the break of the poop after the maintopsail blew away.
1944 J. Masefield New Chum 137 There used to be that kind of schooner. She was called a ‘two-topsail schooner’ or a ‘maintopsail schooner’.
1984 P. O'Brian Far Side of World x. 336 I laid aloft to help close-reef the maintopsail, and a devil of a time we had with it, the bunt perpetually blowing out to leeward.
Compounds
General attributive, as maintopsail bowline, maintopsail brace, maintopsail halyard, maintopsail lift, maintopsail rigging, maintopsail sheet, maintopsail tie, maintopsail yard, etc.
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1626 J. Smith Accidence Young Sea-men 12 The maine top sayle yeard.
1626 J. Smith Accidence Young Sea-men 14 The maine top sayle hallyards,..the maine top sayle sheats,..the maine top sayle braces.
1626 J. Smith Accidence Young Sea-men 15 The maine top sayle bowlin.
1692 Smith's Sea-mans Gram. (new ed.) i. xiv. 64 Main Topsail Lifts.
1801 Asiatic Ann. Reg. 1800 Chron. 66/1 Our maintop-sail tye was shot away.
1813 Examiner 26 Apr. 261/2 The [American frigate] Constitution suffered severely,..having..both maintopsail-yards..badly shot.
1834 F. Marryat Peter Simple I. xvii. 292 To examine the maintopsail yard, which had been reported as sprung.
1855 E. C. Gaskell North & South I. xiv. 164 Some sailors being aloft in the main-topsail rigging.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. To settle, to lower;..as..‘Settle the main topsail halliards’.
1890 W. C. Russell Marriage at Sea xiii The sailors fell to rounding-in, as it is called, upon the main and main-topsail braces.
1904 B. Heckstall-Smith Dixon Kemp's Man. of Yacht & Boat Sailing (ed. 10) v. 94 ‘Yankee fashion’, having three sheets..namely, the main topsail sheet, the outer and inner sheets on the ends of the jackyard.
1996 P. O'Brian Yellow Admiral v. 110 A squall hit her, carrying her maintopsail braces and then her fore and main topmast, which fell over her lee-guns.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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