I. ˈmast, -aa(ə)st, -aist, -ȧst noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English mæst; akin to Middle Dutch & Old High German mast, Latin malus mast, Middle Irish maide stick
1.
a. : a long pole or spar of timber or metal rising usually vertically from the keel or deck of a ship and supporting the yards, booms, derricks, or gaffs
b. : a vertical or nearly vertical pole (as an upright post in various cranes or a structure to support an aerial)
a television mast
c. : gin pole 2
2. : captain's mast
mast was always nasty business — K.M.Dodson
•
- at the mast
- before the mast
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
: to furnish with a mast
pines … reserved for masting the king's navy — American Guide Series: Vermont
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English mæst; akin to Middle Dutch & Old High German mast food, mast, Old English mete food — more at meat
1. : nuts (as beechnuts and acorns) especially as accumulated on the forest floor ; also : an accumulation of such nuts used as food for hogs or other animals
feed on the bountiful mast of acorns on the wooded ridges — John Hightower
2. : mast brown
IV. noun
( -s )
Etymology: modification (influenced by mast ) (I) of French masse billiard cue, maul, sledgehammer, from Old French mace mace — more at mace
archaic : a heavy billiard cue