backstay: Meaning and Definition of

back•stay

Pronunciation: (bak'stā"), [key]
— n.
  1. a supporting or checking piece in a mechanism.
  2. an anchored tension member, as a cable, permanently or temporarily supporting a compression member, as a tower or pole, subject to a pull above its base from the opposite direction.
  3. a strip of leather at the back of a shoe used for reinforcement and sometimes to connect the quarters.

back•stay

Pronunciation: (bak'stā"), [key]
— n.
  1. any of various shrouds forming part of a vessel's standing rigging and leading aft from masts above a lower mast to the sides or stern of the vessel in order to reinforce the masts against forward pull.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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