† ˈfore-staff Naut. Obs.
[f. fore- prefix + staff.]
= cross-staff 2 (see quot. 1867).
| 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. ii. 82 Thus I have shewed you how to take an Observation by the Fore-Staff. 1719 Halley in Phil. Trans. XXX. 993 The Moon was not too high to be well observed with a Forestaff. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Arbalette, a cross-staff or fore-staff. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Fore-staff, an instrument formerly used at sea for taking the altitudes of heavenly bodies..takes its name hence, that the observer in using it turns his face towards the object, in contradistinction to the back-staff. |