English

Noun

mizzentop ‎(plural mizzentops)

1. A framework and platform at the top of the lower mizzenmast of a sailing ship
   • 1761, Richard Owen Cambridge, An Account of the War in India Between the English and the French on the Coast of Coromandel, from the Year 1750 to the Year 1761, Second edition, London: T. Jefferys, 1762, p. 178,

     […] the Compte de Provence, the enemies leading ship, put before the wind, having cut away her mizen-mast on account of taking fire in the mizen top.

   • 1811, T. O. Churchill, The Life of Lord Viscount Nelson, Duke of Bronte, &c, London: Harrison & Leigh, p. 145,

     The naval action in front of the pedestal exhibits the situation of the fleet towards the conclusion of the battle, when the hero was mortally wounded by a shot from the mizen-top of a seventy-four, with which ship the Victory appears to be closely engaged.

   • 1924, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 16,

     […] he had thought of recommending him to the executive officer for promotion to a place that would more frequently bring him under his own observation, namely, the captaincy of the mizzentop […]

   • 1950, C. S. Forester, Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, Penguin, 2006, Chapter 5,

     Hornblower […] turned away to go aloft so as to brood over the question in the solitude of the mizzen-top.

Alternative forms

• mizen-top
• mizen top
• mizzen-top
• mizzen top

Derived terms

• mizzenmastman