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Glite Dictionary
🛡️ Main support ⛵ Mast support rope
mainstay

mainstay

9.0
A strong rope that supports the ship's main mast
  • noun
  • /ˈmeɪnˌsteɪ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : estay

Examples

  • Medical Modeling now also makes its models via 3-D printing as well as the stereolithography technique that has been its mainstay.

    Academic text (2007)

  • The challenge is to develop methods that use the data themselves and the physics of signal propagation through complex media as the mainstays of adaptive processing or inversion methods to determine medium properties.

    Academic text (2004)

  • The Sovremenny destroyers are welcome additions to a navy that previously had obsolescent Luta destroyers as its mainstays.

    Academic text (2004)

  • The sailors adjusted the mainstay to ensure the mainmast remained stable during the storm.

  • The old ship was equipped with a strong mainstay that helped support the towering mast against harsh winds.

  • He inspected the mainstay before setting sail to make sure it could hold the mainmast securely.

Synonyms

backstay
vsmainstay
  • Specialized
1 9.6

A cable behind a mast or tower that holds it upright

supports the mast by a strong fore-and-aft rope or wire for bracing

How Strong

cable
  • Specialized
282 2.4
mainstay
  • Specialized
9.0
rope
614 1.0
wire
700 1.0
twine
28 3.2

Surface Forms

mainstay singular
mainstays plural

Morphology

mainstay = main + stay (transparent) = main + stay

A literal compound referring to the 'stay' (support) associated with the 'main' (mainmast), so the meaning follows directly from the components.

Etymology

Mainstay originally named the strong stay rope that held the ship's main mast upright, so a mainstay is the rope or wire that supports the mainmast of a sailing ship.