| 释义 |
mainstay|ˈmeɪnsteɪ|
[See main a. 8, 10.]
1. Naut. The stay which extends from the main-top to the foot of the foremast.
1485Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 37 Cablettes for the mayne stay. 1626Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 14 The tacklings are the fore stay, the maine stay. 1709Lond. Gaz. No. 4521/2 Having..our Shrouds and Back-stays cut to pieces; as also our Main and False-stay.
b. attrib.: mainstaysail, a storm-sail set on the mainstay.
1742Woodroofe in Hanway's Trav. (1762) I. ii. xxiii. 100 We furled the foresail, and lay to under a mainstaysail. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Main-staysail.
2. Chief support; that on which one mainly relies.
1787Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 163 The points of contact and connection with this country, which I consider as our surest mainstay under every event. 1839–40W. Irving Wolfert's R. (1855) 207 This maxim, which has been pretty much my mainstay throughout life. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. iv. (1889) 30 The host..was one of the main⁓stays of the College boat-club. 1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. vii. 150 Direct record is the mainstay of History. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. vi. 458 The Norman Duke was the mainstay of the French kingdom. |
