mizzen topsailn.
/ˌmɪzn ˈtɒpsl/, /ˌmɪzn ˈtɒpseɪl/, U.S. /ˌmɪz(ə)n ˈtɑpˌseɪl/ Nautical.
The sail above the mizzen sail, set on the mizzen-topmast. Frequently attributive.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > masts, rigging, or sails > sail > [noun] > topsail > on mizzen-mast
mizzen topsail1626
1626 J. Smith Accidence Young Sea-men 13 The misen top sayle yeard.
1692 Smith's Sea-mans Gram. (new ed.) i. xiv. 63 Mizan Topsail Lifts. Mizan Topsail Sheets.
1720 D. Defoe Life Capt. Singleton 202 The Pareil of the Mizen Topsail Yard..giving Way.
1773 J. Hawkesworth Acct. Voy. Southern Hemisphere II. ii. v. 374 In the evening, having split the fore and mizen topsails, we brought the ship under her courses.
1841 R. H. Dana Seaman's Man. i. iii. 16 The mizen topsail braces reeve up through the leading blocks..on the main rigging.
1841 R. H. Dana Seaman's Man. i. iii. 16 The lower block of the mizen topsail halyard is usually in the mizen tops.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Cross-jack-yard..the lower yard on the mizen-mast, to the arms of which the clues of the mizen top-sail are extended... It is now very common in merchant ships to set a sail called a cross-jack upon this yard.
1897 J. Conrad Nigger of ‘Narcissus’ iii. 38 At midnight, orders were given to furl the fore and mizen topsails.
1914 Ld. C. Beresford Mem. I. iii. 13 The mizentopmen worked the mizentopsail, mizentopgallant and mizen-royal yards.
1979 P. O'Brian Fortune of War iii. 123 She crossed the Java's bows at rather more than two hundred yards, shivered her main and mizen topsails.
1997 Scotsman 23 May 15/3 I am 50 feet above deck, my body bent across the yard-arm, unfurling the mizzen topsail.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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