bowsprit
(ˈbəʊsprɪt)
Forms: α. 4 bouspret, 6 boespritte, 7– bowsprit; β. 6–7 boresprit, 7 borespritt, boar-spright; γ. 6 boltspreet, 7 boultspret, 7–9 boltsprit; δ. 7 boldspreet; ε. 7 bole-sprit, bowle-, boulspret, boule spret, -sprit.
[Found in all the mod. Teut. langs.: Du. boegspriet, LG. bogspret, Ger. bug-, bogspriet (from LG. or Du.), Sw. bogspröt, Da. bogspryd; in all connected with the ship's bow, and with a word, in OE. spréot pole (ME. spret, spreet), Du. spriet spear, javelin, Sw. spröt insect's feeler. Cf. also OHG. spriuzan, MHG. spriuzen to prop. The origin seems to lie between LG., Du., and English: in the latter spréot was itself used in a nautical sense in OE. and ME. (see sprit). But against the compound bow-sprit being of English rise, are the late appearance of bow in the language, and the numerous perverted forms with bore, boar, bolt, bold, bole, bowle, which seem to show that the connexion with bow was not evident to English sailors, either in sense or pronunciation. (Quotations for the word are very rare before 1590.)]
1. A large spar or boom running out from the stem of a vessel, to which (and the jib-boom and flying jib-boom, which extend beyond it) the foremast stays are fastened.
| α c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (K.O.) Bouspret. a 1500 Chester Pl. (MS. 1592) i. (1843) 48 With toppe-castill and boe-spritte. 1634 Brereton Trav. I. 169 The bow-sprit or sprit-sail [mast] which stands sloping even over the beak-head. 1700 Tyrrell Hist. Eng. II. 833 Their Bowsprits armed with Iron. 1805 in Nicolas Disp. Nelson VII. 189 note, Found the bowsprit badly wounded, and bowsprit-shrouds shot away. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes (1850) 56/2 By the water side, where the bowsprits of ships stretch across the footway. 1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports ii. viii. i. §3 The forward rig also changed, from the bumpkin bowsprit and one head sail, to a long running bowsprit and full-sized flat jib. |
| β 1594 W. Phillips Linschoten's Trav. in Arb. Garner III. 428 Our boresprit touched the shore. 1610 Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 200 On the Top-mast, The Yards and Borespritt, would I flame distinctly. a 1623 tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. iii. (1688) 413 Brake her Fore mast or Boresprit. 1655 Heywood Fortune by Land. iv. Wks. 1874 VI. 416 Our Mainsail, Boar-spright, and our Mizen. |
| γ 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Cevadera, the saile of the boltspreet. 1600 Hakluyt Voy. (1810) III. 125 The yce..touched their boltsprit. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram., Boultspret Ladder..made fast ouer the Boulspret to get vpon it. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1869) 294 She had lost her Maintop-mast, Fore-mast and Boltsprit. 1815 Scott Ld. of Isles i. xiv. 12 Her boltsprit kissed the broken waves. |
| δ 1652 Proc. Parliament No. 170 Putting out the Parliaments Jack on the Boldspreet end, and the English Ensign on the Poop. |
| ε 1617 Minsheu Sp. Dict., Bauprez..the bole-sprit of a ship. 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 15 The fore mast, misen and bowlespret..the boulespret hath no bow lines. 1634 Sir. T. Herbert Trav. 182 Her bole-sprit broke our mizen shroudes. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 120 From the extremity of the Boulsprit to the Lanthorn. |
† 2. fig. The human nose.
humorous.
Obs.| 1690 Shadwell Am. Bigot v. Wks. 1720 IV. 295 Thy..nose, that bolt-sprit of thy face. 1691 ― Scowrers v, They do not consider the tenderness of my bolt-sprit. |