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forestay.

A stay that extends from the top of the foremast to the bow or bowsprit of a sailing ship

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun
  1. A stay that extends from the top of the foremast to the bow or bowsprit of a sailing ship

Where this word comes from

From Middle English forstay, forstey, vorstey, equivalent to fore- + stay (“a stay, rope”).

verb
  1. To stay beforehand; secure or fasten with or as with a forestay.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English forstay, forstey, vorstey, equivalent to fore- + stay (“a stay, rope”).

verb
  1. To stay, delay, postpone, or hinder beforehand; forestall; prevent.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *preh₂-der. Proto-Indo-European *pr̥h₂éy Proto-Germanic *furai Proto-Germanic *furai- Proto-West Germanic *forē- Old English fore- Middle English fore- English fore- English stay English forestay From fore- + stay (“to hold off, postpone, delay”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.