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Glite Dictionary
🐴 A mane lock 🚢 A lookout platform
foretop

foretop

9.9
A small platform at the top of a ship's front mast used for looking out
  • noun
  • /ˈfɔːrˌtɑp/
  • Specialized
translation icon : cofa
  • From the foretop, the sailor spotted land on the horizon.

Examples

  • "I was on lookout in the foretop on an eve much like this one.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • A tour is from the keel to the foretop.

    The Caine Mutiny (1954)

  • -Foretop, any sail in sight?

    Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

  • On April 2nd, the foretop lookout of Boudeuse sighted a towering peak shaped like a sugarloaf and rising sheerly out of the ocean.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • The lookout in the foretop shouted to alert the crew of approaching storms.

  • She climbed to the foretop to get a better view of the ship's surroundings.

Synonyms

top
vsforetop
  • Specialized
97 9.3

A platform near the head of a ship's mast where sailors work

is the same platform but on the front mast rather than a lower mast
masthead
vsforetop
  • Specialized
1 8.1

The top part of a ship's mast used for a flag or a lookout

is a platform at that top used for lookout and handling sails
crosstree
vsforetop
  • Archaic
9.9

A horizontal beam attached across a ship's mast that supports the ropes holding the sails and gives sailors a platform

is a raised lookout and sail-working platform rather than a support beam

Surface Forms

foretop singular
foretops plural

Morphology

foretop = fore + top (transparent) = fore + top

Clear compound meaning: the 'top' at the fore (foremast); the components directly describe the ship platform.

Etymology

Foretop comes from the parts fore- 'front' (as in forehead) and top 'top', so it literally means the 'front top' of the mast and refers to the small platform at the top of the foremast used for lookout and working the sails.