mast

plural masts

1. aeronauticsA 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).First known use 9th c.
2. governmentA nonjudicial punishment ("NJP"); a disciplinary hearing under which a commanding officer studies and disposes of cases involving those under his command; a meritorious mast.First known use 17th c.

present singular third person masts · participle present masting · participle past masted · past masted

1. To supply and fit a mast to (a ship).First known use 16th c.

plural masts

1. countableuncountableThe fruit of forest-trees (beech, oak, chestnut, pecan, etc.), especially if having fallen from the tree, used as fodder for pigs and other animals.First known use 10th c.

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

   1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 93, lines 755–756

   4 more examples

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

   1614–1615, Homer, “The Tenth Booke of Homers Odysses”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC, page 151

   [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.

   1715, Robert South, “A Sermon on Proverbs i. 32.”, in Twelve Sermons Preached at Several Times, and upon Several Occasions, volume IV, London: […] G. James, for Jonah Bowyer […], →OCLC, pages 73–74

   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.

   1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate, published 2012, page 162

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

   1999, Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger, The Year 1000: What life was like at the turn of The First Millennium, London: Abacus, published 2000, page 134

present singular third person masts · participle present masting · participle past masted · past masted

1. To feed on forest seed or fruit.
2. agricultureTo produce a very large quantity of fruit or seed in certain years but not others.

   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.

   1985, Michael Fenner, Seed ecology, page 33

   2 more examples

   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.

   2004, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Christian Körner, Ernst-Detlef Schulze, Forest Diversity and Function: Temperate and Boreal Systems, page 28

   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.

   2008, Chris Rowthorn, Muhammad Cohen, China Williams, Borneo, page 50

1. slanguncountablebodybuildingThe anabolic steroid drostanolone propionate, also known as Masteron

plural masts

1. obsoleteball gamesA type of heavy cue, with the broad end of which one strikes the ball.First known use 18th–19th c.

   Godfrey thus conquered, pretended to lose his temper, curs'd his own ill luck, swore that the table had a cast, and that the balls did not run true, changed his mast, and with great warmth challenged his enemy to double his sum.

   1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC

1. A surname.

plural MASTs

1. abbreviationinitialismemergency medicineInitialism of military antishock trousers; inflatable trousers that apply pressure to the inferior half of a patient's body to decrease blood loss and prevent the onset of shock, similar to a tourniquet.

   Synonyms: PASG