unmastv.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈmɑːst/, /(ˌ)ʌnˈmast/, U.S. /ˌənˈmæst/ transitive. To remove or destroy the mast or masts of (a ship).In quot. 2002 in figurative context.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > shipwreck > cause to suffer shipwreck [verb (transitive)] > lose (spars, sails, or rigging) > carry away mast
unmast1611
dismast1747
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > shipbuilding and repairing > build a ship [verb (transitive)] > fit out or equip > rig > furnish with masts > divest of masts
unmast1611
1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words Disarborare,..to unmast a ship.
1698 tr. F. Froger Relation Voy. Coasts Afr. 17 We also began to unmast the Fruitful Pink to turn it into a Bomb-Galley.
1749 T. Short Gen. Chronol. Hist. Air I. 489 In this dreadful Storm 14 Ships were stranded in 8 or 9 Miles; many were blown out of the Road, and great Numbers unmasted.
1824 Portfolio 2 Oct. 34/2 This is an arrangement of great power and admirable simplicity for the purposes of masting and unmasting ships of war of the largest size.
1930 Princeton Alumni Weekly 17 Oct. 79/3 The Confederacy had proceeded half way across the Atlantic on her diplomatic mission when she was unmasted by a storm.
2002 J. H. R. Polt tr. V. P. Rosales Times gone by (2003) v. 69 Brazil, whose good fortune had spared her having to pass through any of the storms that had almost unmasted our ship of state..had..quietly ratified her constitution.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
v.1611