Meaning

(nautical, communication, aviation) A tall, slim post or tower, usually tapering upward, used to support, for example, sails or observation platforms on a ship, the main rotor of a helicopter, flags, floodlights, meteorological instruments, or communications equipment, such as an aerial, usually supported by guy-wires (except in the case of a helicopter)..

Definitions by Sense

1. (nautical, communication, aviation) A tall, slim post or tower, usually tapering upward, used to support, for example, sails or observation platforms on a ship, the main rotor of a helicopter, flags, floodlights, meteorological instruments, or communications equipment, such as an aerial, usually supported by guy-wires (except in the case of a helicopter).
2. (naval) A non-judicial punishment ("NJP"); a disciplinary hearing under which a commanding officer studies and disposes of cases involving those under his command.
3. To supply and fit a mast to (a ship).
4. 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.
5. (of swine and other animals) To feed on forest seed or fruit.
6. (agriculture, forestry, ecology, of a population of plants) To produce a very large quantity of fruit or seed in certain years but not others.
7. (bodybuilding slang) The anabolic steroid drostanolone propionate, also known as Masteron
8. (obsolete, billiards) A type of heavy cue, with the broad end of which one strikes the ball.

Example Sentences

She ſhut them ſtraight in ſties; and gaue them meate / Oke-maſt, and beech, and Cornell fruite, they eate, […]

The Winter comes, and then the falling Maſt, / For greedy Swine, provides a full repaſt.

[T]hey feed and grovel like Swine under an Oak, filling themſelves with the Maſt, but never ſo much as looking up, either to the Bows that bore, or the Hands that ſhook it down.

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.

The cultivated harvest in the fields was matched by the woodland ‘mast’ of beechnuts, acorns, chestnuts, and other fruits of the forest.

Any individual tree which masted in a generally non-mast year would be subjected to the exclusive attention of the seed predators and so would be selected against.

However, if this were true, all or most masting species (e.g., Fagus and Quercus) in a forest would have to mast in synchrony to be effective against generalist herbivores.

Because dipterocarp seeds are winged and spin gracefully as they fall, the dispersal of millions of dipterocarp seeds during a masting event is one of the greatest spectacles that you can see on planet Earth.

Word Forms

• masts
• masting
• masted

Related Words

When Should You Use Mast?

Use mast when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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