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Glite Dictionary
main yard

main yard

9.9
A long pole across a ship with square sails that holds the main sail
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : mástil principal
  • During the repair, the crew focused on replacing the damaged main yard to ensure the mainsail operated properly.

Examples

  • The sailor climbed to the top of the mast to inspect the main yard before the storm hit.

  • I'm working at their main yard right now.

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  • The captain instructed his crew to adjust the lines attached to the main yard for better sail performance.

Synonyms

spar
vsmain yard
  • Specialized
3 8.6

A strong pole on a ship that supports sails

is the horizontal support that holds the principal sail on square-rigged ships

Surface Forms

main yard singular
main yards plural

Morphology

main + yard

The meaning is directly compositional: 'main' = primary/chief and 'yard' = a spar from which a sail hangs, so 'main yard' naturally denotes the principal spar for the mainsail. This follows standard English noun-modifier patterns and would be predictable to a B1 learner who knows both constituent senses.

Etymology

The noun main yard comes from old sailing ships. A yard was a long wooden pole fixed across a ship's mast to hold a large sail, and main meant the biggest one on the main mast, so the term means 'the large horizontal pole that carries the mainsail'.