overmastedadj.
/ˌəʊvəˈmɑːstᵻd/, /ˌəʊvəˈmastᵻd/, U.S. /ˌoʊvərˈmæstəd/ Nautical.
Of a sailing ship: provided with too high or too heavy a mast or masts.
ΚΠ
a1657 W. Bradford Of Plimouth Plantation (1901) viii. 85 The leaknes of this ship was partly by being over masted.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis v, in tr. Virgil Wks. 333 Cloanthus, better mann'd, pursu'd him fast; But his o're-masted Gally check'd his Haste.
1744 B. Franklin in Pennsylvania Gaz. 5 July 3/3 Sunday last the Tartar..sail'd down the Bay..but being (as 'tis said) over-masted, and not well ballasted, she was unfortunately overset, by a slight Flaw of Wind, near the Capes.
1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine Over-masted, the state of a ship, whose masts are too high, or too heavy, for the weight of her hull to counter-balance.
1897 J. H. Briggs in M. Fry Dundas Despotism (1992) x. 350 The administration of Lord Melville was the era of donkey-frigates, overmasted sloops and coffin gun-brigs.
1902 N.E.D. at Leg All legs and Wings, said of..an overmasted vessel.
1985 P. Clissold Ansted's Dict. Sea Terms (ed. 3) 207 Over-masted, a boat is thus described when her masts are too long, which in yachts is not of rare occurrence.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.a1657