Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
maintop

maintop

9.9
A platform near the top of a ship's main mast where sailors look out and work
  • noun
  • /ˈmeɪnˌtɑp/
  • Archaic
translation icon : gavia
  • During the storm, the crew struggled to secure the sails while perched in the maintop of the ship.

Examples

  • From the maintop, the lookout could see the landmass of the island appearing in the distance.

  • When I went to put the noose around his scrawny neck to haul him to the maintop, he bit one of 'em clean off, but the rest the doctor chopped.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • "Well, dammit, man, you'd better figure it out, because we sure as hell haven't landed in South Carolina!" Andrew started back down from the maintop and jumped to the deck, Tobias following him.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • "Colonel, can you climb the rigging?" And so saying, he pointed up to where the shrouds to the mainmast still clung to the shattered maintop, thirty feet above the deck.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Congress passed the first legislation on the award in December of 1861, giving the first award in 1863 to John Williams, Navy Captain of the Maintop, U.S.S. Pawnee, for exceptional bravery against rebel forces at Mathias Point on 26 June 1861.

    Academic text (1998)

  • The sailor stood confidently on the maintop, scanning the horizon for any approaching ships.

Synonyms

top
vsmaintop
  • Specialized
97 9.3

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

is higher on the mainmast and used both for lookout and as a working platform
crow's nest
vsmaintop
4 6.1

A small platform near the top of a ship's mast where a lookout stands

is located on the mainmast and also functions as a place to work
carajo
vsmaintop
  • Archaic
9.9

A small platform high on a ship's mast for watching the sea

is on the mainmast and additionally used as a working area

Surface Forms

maintop singular
maintops plural

Morphology

maintop = main + top (semi-transparent) = main + top

The components 'main' and 'top' are obvious, but the specialized nautical sense 'platform on the mainmast' is jargon and may not be fully predictable to general learners.

Etymology

Maintop comes from the parts main ('most important') and top ('highest part'), so it names the platform near the top of the ship's mainmast where sailors stood to watch or to work.