Mast

Pronunciation

• RP enPR: mäst, IPA: /mɑːst/
• US IPA: /mæst/
• Homophones: massed ()
• Rhymes: -ɑːst, -æst

From Middle English mast, from Old English mæst ("mast"), from Proto-Germanic *mastaz ("mast, sail-pole"), from Proto-Indo-European *mazdos ("pole, mast"). Cognate with Dutch mast, German Mast, and via Indo-European with Latin mālus, Russian мост (móst, "bridge"), Irish adhmad.

Full definition of mast

Noun

1. A tall, slim post or tower, usually tapering upward, used to support, for example, the sails on a ship, flags, floodlights, or communications equipment such as an aerial, usually supported by guy-wires.

Derived terms

• foremast
• mainmast
• mizzenmast
• before the mast

Verb

1. To supply and fit a mast to a ship

Old English mæst ("fallen nuts, food for swine"), mæsten ("to fatten, feed"), from West Germanic; probably related to meat.

Noun

1. The fruit of forest-trees (beech, oak, chestnut, pecan, etc.), especially if having fallen from the tree, used as fodder for pigs and other animals.
• 1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate 2012, page 162:He ... would begin to pick up the seed-cases or mast, squeeze each one with his fingers to see if it were fertile, and drop it if it were not.
• unknown date ChapmanOak-mast, and beech, and cornel fruit, they eat.
• unknown date SouthSwine under an oak filling themselves with the mast.

Verb

1. (of swine and other animals) To feed on forest seed or fruit.
2. (agriculture, forestry, ecology, of a population of plants) To vary fruit and seed production in multi-year cycles.
• Seed ecology
• Forest Diversity and Function: Temperate and Boreal Systems
• Borneo

Related terms

• mast cell

Anagrams

• ASTM, ATMs, mats, Mats, tams