fore-sheet Naut.
(ˈfɔəʃiːt)
[f. fore- prefix + sheet.]
1. The rope by which the lee corner of the foresail is kept in place.
1667 Davenant & Dryden Tempest i. i, Flat-in the fore-sheet there. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. 16 Round aft the Main sheets, and Fore-sheets. 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 28 We broke our Larboard Fore-sheet and fixed a new one. |
2. pl. The inner part of the bows of a boat, fitted with gratings upon which the bow-man stands (Adm. Smyth).
1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. xii, Two of the enemy's men entered the boat just where this fellow stood, being in the fore-sheets. 1833 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 99, I stowed myself away under the fore-sheets. 1883 Stevenson Treas. Isl. iii. xiii, In a jiffy I had slipped over the side, and curled up in the fore-sheets of the nearest boat. |
3. Comb., as fore-sheet horse, fore-sheet traveller (see quots.).
1846 Young Naut. Dict., Fore-Sheet Horse, an iron rod or piece of wood fastened at its ends athwart the deck of a single masted vessel, before the mast, for the foresail sheet to travel upon. Ibid. s.v. Traveller, The Fore-sheet Traveller is a ring..which traverses on the fore-sheet horse. |