mast
11. Nautical any vertical spar for supporting sails, rigging, flags, etc., above the deck of a vessel or any components of such a composite spar
2. Nautical a hearing conducted by the captain of a vessel into minor offences of the crew
3. before the mast Nautical as an apprentice seaman
mast
2 the fruit of forest trees, such as beech, oak, etc., used as food for pigs
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
mast
[mast] (engineering)
A vertical metal pole serving as an antenna or antenna support.
A slender vertical pole which must be held in position by guy lines.
A drill, derrick, or tripod mounted on a drill unit, which can be raised to operating position by mechanical means.
A single pole, used as a drill derrick, supported in its upright or operating position by guys.
(mechanical engineering)
A support member on certain industrial trucks, such as a forklift, that provides guideways for the vertical movement of the carriage.
(naval architecture)
A long wooden or metal pole or spar, usually vertical, on the deck or keel of a ship, to support other spars which in turn support or are attached to sails, as well as derricks.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
mast
1. A tower which carries one or more load lines.
2. The load-bearing component of a derrick, or the like.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
MAST
(Merkelized Alternative Script Trees) See Taproot.Copyright © 1981-2025 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Mast
(tower), a structure consisting of a pole or shaft steadied by guys. The pole is supported by a foundation, and the guys are fastened to anchors.
Masts are used most often as supports for radio, radio-relay, and television antennas and other communication structures. Foundations for poles and anchors may be made of cast-in-place plain concrete or reinforced concrete or built up from precast concrete elements; screw piles are also used. Masts are usually erected with the aid of a climbing crane moving along the pole. Light towers with heights up to 120 m are often assembled on the ground and erected with the aid of a derrick. Masts are designed for the least favorable combination of climatic (and sometimes seismic) loads and the loads imposed by the installed equipment.
Mast
a vertical metal or wood structure (spar) mounted on a deck in the longitudinal plane of symmetry of the vessel and used for furling the sails, supporting the derricks (masting sheers), radio antennas, light signals, and flag signals. The lower end of the mast is called the mast heel (or foot of the mast) and the upper part of the mast is called the top, or head. The first mast from the bow of a vessel is called the foremast, the second the mainmast, and the mast nearest to the stern the mizzenmast.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.