name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
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"She ſhut them ſtraight in ſties; and gaue them meate / Oke-maſt, and beech, and Cornell fruite, they eate, […]"
"Godfrey thus conquered, pretended to lose his temper, curs'd his own ill luck, swore that the table had a cast, and that the balls did not run true, changed his mast, and with great warmth challenged his enemy to double his sum."
"Any individual tree which masted in a generally non-mast year would be subjected to the exclusive attention of the seed predators and so would be selected against."
"The mast broke and our ship went adrift."
A tall, slim post or tower, usually tapering upward, used to support, for example, sails or observation platforms on a ship, the main rotor of a helicopter, flags, floodlights, meteorological instruments, or communications equipment, such as an aerial, usually supported by guy-wires (except in the case of a helicopter).
Common synonyms include: advocate, aerial, alpenstock, antenna, antenna tower, antenna tower.
The mast broke and our ship went adrift.
Pronounced /mɑːst/.
From Middle English mast, from Old English mæst (“mast”), from Proto-West Germanic *mast, from Proto-Germanic *mastaz (“mast, sail-pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *mazdos (“pole, mast”). Cognate with Dutch mast, German Mast, and via Indo-European with Latin mālus, Russian мост (most, “bridge”), Irish adhmad.
From Old English mæst (“fallen nuts, food for swine”) and mæstan (“to fatten”), from West Germanic; probably related to meat.
Clipping of Masteron.
From French masse, with -t probably after Etymology 1, above.
* As a Dutch surname, from the noun mast (“mast (pole on a ship)”). * Also as a Dutch surname, from the noun mast (“fodder”). * As a German and Alemannic German surname, from the noun Mast (“fat”), itself related to the sense of "fodder" above.