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Glite Dictionary
yardarm

yardarm

4 9.9
The outer end of a long pole across a ship's mast where sails attach
  • noun
  • /ˈjɑrdˌɑrm/
  • Specialized
translation icon : braza
  • The sun's over the yardarm now, blazing hot, and Gordy's still working under the watchful eyes of the guards.
  • lining the yardarms
  • highest yardarm
  • see the top yardarm

Examples

  • A line had tangled around the yardarm.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The sun is over the yardarm.

    The Lighthouse (2019)

  • You see that last yardarm?

    Star Trek: Generations (1994)

  • The sun is over the yardarm, which means naptime for the old captain.

    Tom and Jerry: The Movie (1992)

  • Sun's not quite over the yardarm.

    The Iron Lady (2011)

  • The sun's going down over the yardarm.

    Giant (1956)

  • Men she assumed were ship's crew stood in the yardarm hauling on lines to trim the sail.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • The sailors prepared to lower the sails from the yardarm as the storm approached.

  • From the deck of the ship, they could see the yardarm towering above them with the sails unfurled.

  • The crew worked diligently at the yardarm to ensure the sails were properly set for their voyage.

Idioms

yardarm to yardarm
  • Informal
9.9

Across the whole area or time of an event

Surface Forms

yardarm singular
yardarms plural

Morphology

yardarm = yard + arm (semi-transparent) = yard + arm

The components 'yard' and 'arm' are literal and recognizable, but the term refers to a specialized nautical part and uses 'yard' in a ship-specific sense that learners may not know.

Etymology

The word yardarm is made of yard, a ship's 'long pole', and arm, meaning 'arm' or limb. It names the 'arm' of the yard, the outer end of that horizontal pole where sails and flags are set.