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Mizentop, maintop, foretop

.

Service in these masts has nothing whatever to do with age or merit. A “top” is a platform fixed over the head of a lower mast, resting on the trestle-trees, to spread the rigging of the topmast.

⁂ The mizenmast is the aftermost mast of a ship; the foremast is in the forward part of a ship; the mainmast is between these two.

“He was put into the mizentop, and served three years in the West Indies; then he was transferred to the maintop, and served five years in the Mediterranean; and then he was made captain of the foretop, and served six years in the East Indies; and at last he was rated captain’s coxswain in the Druid frigate.”—Capt. Marryat: Poor Jack, chap. i.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Mitaine
Mite
Mithra or Mithras
Mithridate
Mitre
Mitre Tavern (The)
Mitten
Mittimus (Latin)
Mitton
Mixon
Mizentop, maintop, foretop
Mjölnir (pron. youl-ner)
Mnemosynē
Moabite Stone (The)
Moakkibat
Moat
Mob
Mob-cap (A)
Mobilise
Mock-beggar Hall or Manor
Mockery