sailyard

English

Mast and sailyards

Etymology

From Middle English saylyerde, sailyerd, seilȝerd, from Old English seġlġyrd, seġelġyrd (“sailyard”), from Proto-West Germanic *seglagaʀdī and *seglagaʀd (“sailyard, mast”, literally “sail-rod, sail-staff”), equivalent to sail +‎ yard (“staff, rod, stick”). Cognate with German Segelgerte.

Noun

sailyard (plural sailyards)

(nautical) A yard (spar or shaft) to which the sails of a ship are bent (tied or fastened to).
(obsolete) One of the structural arms of a windmill to which the vanes or sails are attached.
(entomology, obsolete) An antenna of an insect.

References

John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “sailyard”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

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