fore-topsail

American

[fohr-top-seyl, fawr-, fohr-top-suhl, fawr-] / ˌfoʊrˈtɒpˌseɪl, ˌfɔr-, ˌfoʊrˈtɒp səl, ˌfɔr- /

noun

a topsail set on a foremast on a ship.

fore-topsail British

/ fɔːˈtɒpsəl, fɔːˈtɒpˌseɪl /

noun

nautical a sail set on a fore-topmast

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of fore-topsail

First recorded in 1575–85

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Just then we were making fourteen knots, with only a foresail, a fore-topsail, and main-topsail, the latter two close-reefed.

From Medical Life in the Navy by Stables, Gordon

Towards morning a loud report was heard, as if a gun had been fired on board: the fore-topsail had been blown from the bolt-ropes.

From Jack Buntline by Kingston, William Henry Giles

One of the sailors belonging to the Aigle, having been sent to loosen the fore-topsail, became frozen in the fore-top.

From Celebrated Travels and Travellers Part 2. The Great Navigators of the Eighteenth Century by Benett, Léon

At 6 the fore-topsail was taken in, and the ship hove-to under the main topsail and the main trysail.

From The Wreck on the Andamans by Darvall, Joseph

The main topmast was shot away, the shrouds were torn to threads, and the gaff of the fore-topsail was badly wounded.

From Athelstane Ford by Upward, Allen

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023