mast: Meaning and Definition of

mast

Pronunciation: (mast, mäst), [key]
— n.
    1. a spar or structure rising above the hull and upper portions of a ship or boat to hold sails, spars, rigging, booms, signals, etc., at some point on the fore-and-aft line, as a foremast or mainmast.
    2. any of a number of individual spars composing such a structure, as a topmast supported on trestletrees at the head of a lower mast.
    3. any of various portions of a single spar that are beside particular sails, as a top-gallant mast and royal mast formed as a single spar.
  1. the upright support of a jib crane.
  2. any upright pole, as a support for an aerial, a post in certain cranes, etc.
  3. as an unlicensed sailor: He served several years before the mast.
—v.t.
  1. to provide with a mast or masts.

mast

Pronunciation: (mast, mäst), [key]
— n.
  1. the fruit of the oak and beech or other forest trees, used as food for hogs and other animals.

mast-

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. var. ofbefore a vowel: mastectomy.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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