mast

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: mäst, IPA^(key): /mɑːst/
• (US, Canada, Northern England) IPA^(key): /mæst/
• Homophone: massed (/mæst/)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːst, -æst
• Rhymes: -æst

From Middle English mast, from Old English mæst (“mast”), from Proto-West Germanic *mast, from Proto-Germanic *mastaz (“mast, sail-pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *mazdos (“pole, mast”).

Cognate with Dutch mast, German Mast, and via Indo-European with Latin mālus, Russian мост (most, “bridge”), Irish adhmad.

mast (plural masts)

1. (nautical, communication, aviation) A tall, slim post or tower, usually tapering upward, used to support, for example, sails or observation platforms on a ship, the main rotor of a helicopter, flags, floodlights, meteorological instruments, or communications equipment, such as an aerial, usually supported by guy-wires (except in the case of a helicopter). [from 9th c.]
2. (naval) A non-judicial punishment ("NJP"); a disciplinary hearing under which a commanding officer studies and disposes of cases involving those under his command. [from 17th c.]

(tall, slim post on a ship):

• cage mast
• foremast
• lattice mast
• mainmast
• military mast
• mizzenmast
• pagoda mast
• pole mast
• topmast
• tripod mast

mast (third-person singular simple present masts, present participle masting, simple past and past participle masted)

1. To supply and fit a mast to (a ship). [from 16th c.]

From Old English mæst (“fallen nuts, food for swine”) and mæstan (“to fatten”), from West Germanic; probably related to meat.

mast (countable and uncountable, plural masts)

1. The fruit of forest-trees (beech, oak, chestnut, pecan, etc.), especially if having fallen from the tree, used as fodder for pigs and other animals. [from 10th c.]
   • 1614–1615, Homer, “The Tenth Booke of Homers Odysses”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC, page 151:

     She ſhut them ſtraight in ſties; and gaue them meate / Oke-maſt, and beech, and Cornell fruite, they eate, […]

   • 1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 93, lines 755–756:

     The Winter comes, and then the falling Maſt, / For greedy Swine, provides a full repaſt.

   • 1715, Robert South, “A Sermon on Proverbs i. 32.”, in Twelve Sermons Preached at Several Times, and upon Several Occasions, volume IV, London: […] G. James, for Jonah Bowyer […], →OCLC, pages 73–74:

     [T]hey feed and grovel like Swine under an Oak, filling themſelves with the Maſt, but never ſo much as looking up, either to the Bows that bore, or the Hands that ſhook it down.

   • 1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate, published 2012, page 162:

     He […] would begin to pick up the seed-cases or mast, squeeze each one with his fingers to see if it were fertile, and drop it if it were not.

mast (third-person singular simple present masts, present participle masting, simple past and past participle masted)

1. (of swine and other animals) To feed on forest seed or fruit.
2. (agriculture, forestry, ecology, of a population of plants) To produce a very large quantity of fruit or seed in certain years but not others.
   • 1985, Michael Fenner, Seed ecology‎^[1], page 33:

     Any individual tree which masted in a generally non-mast year would be subjected to the exclusive attention of the seed predators and so would be selected against.

   • 2004, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Christian Körner, Ernst-Detlef Schulze, Forest Diversity and Function: Temperate and Boreal Systems‎^[2], page 28:

     However, if this were true, all or most masting species (e.g., Fagus and Quercus) in a forest would have to mast in synchrony to be effective against generalist herbivores.

   • 2008, Chris Rowthorn, Muhammad Cohen, China Williams, Borneo‎^[3], page 50:

     Because dipterocarp seeds are winged and spin gracefully as they fall, the dispersal of millions of dipterocarp seeds during a masting event is one of the greatest spectacles that you can see on planet Earth.

Clipping of Masteron.

mast (uncountable)

1. (bodybuilding slang) The anabolic steroid drostanolone propionate, also known as Masteron

From French masse, with -t probably after Etymology 1, above.

mast (plural masts)

1. (obsolete, billiards) A type of heavy cue, with the broad end of which one strikes the ball. [18th–19th c.]
   • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

     Godfrey thus conquered, pretended to lose his temper, curs'd his own ill luck, swore that the table had a cast, and that the balls did not run true, changed his mast, and with great warmth challenged his enemy to double his sum.

• mast cell

• Mats, tams, amts, mats, TAMs, MTAs, ATMs, AMTs, MATs, Stam, ASTM, stam, MATS

Inherited from Old Czech mast, from Proto-Slavic *mastь.

• IPA^(key): [ˈmast]
• Hyphenation: mast
• Rhymes: -ast

mast f

1. ointment

• “mast”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “mast”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “mast”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

Borrowed from Middle Low German mast, from Old Saxon *mast, from Proto-West Germanic *mast.

mast c (singular definite masten, plural indefinite master)

1. mast

• IPA^(key): /mɑst/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mast
• Rhymes: -ɑst

From Middle Dutch mast, from Old Dutch *mast, from Proto-West Germanic *mast, from Proto-Germanic *mastaz.

mast m (plural masten, diminutive mastje n)

1. mast (pole on a ship, to which sails can be rigged)

• Afrikaans: mas
• Negerhollands: mast
• → Japanese: マスト

From Middle Dutch mast, from the root of met (“meat”), similar to German Mast.

mast m (plural masten, diminutive mastje n)

1. mast, fodder for pigs or other animals made up of acorns and beechnuts

• stam, tams

From either Middle Low German mast or German Mast.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑsʲt/

mast (genitive masti, partitive masti)

1. mast
2. (card games) suit
3. (poker) flush

Declension of mast (ÕS type 22e/riik, length gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		mast	mastid
accusative	nom.
	gen.	masti
genitive			mastide
partitive		masti	maste mastisid
illative		masti mastisse	mastidesse mastesse
inessive		mastis	mastides mastes
elative		mastist	mastidest mastest
allative		mastile	mastidele mastele
adessive		mastil	mastidel mastel
ablative		mastilt	mastidelt mastelt
translative		mastiks	mastideks masteks
terminative		mastini	mastideni
essive		mastina	mastidena
abessive		mastita	mastideta
comitative		mastiga	mastidega

• mastirida

• → Ingrian: mašti

mast

1. alternative form of mased

Old French mast

mast m (plural masts)

1. mast (structure found on watercraft)

• French: mât

mast m

1. yoghurt

From Middle Low German mast (“mast”).

mast f or m (definite singular masta or masten, indefinite plural master, definite plural mastene)

1. mast

• stang

• fokkemast
• stormast
• radiomast
• lysmast

• masa, maset

mast

1. past participle of mase

• “mast” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• master (non-standard since 2012)

From Middle Low German mast.

• IPA^(key): /mɑst/

mast f (definite singular masta, indefinite plural master, definite plural mastene)

1. mast

• “mast” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *mastь.

• IPA^(key): (13^th CE) /ˈmast/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /ˈmast/

mast f

1. ointment

• mazati
• mastný
• mastnost

• Czech: mast

• Jan Gebauer (1903–1916), “mast”, in Slovník staročeský (in Czech), Prague: Česká grafická společnost "unie", Česká akademie císaře Františka Josefa pro vědy, slovesnost a umění

māst

1. superlative degree of miċel; most

• maste

Borrowed from Frankish *mast.

mast oblique singular, m (oblique plural maz or matz, nominative singular maz or matz, nominative plural mast)

1. mast (structure found on watercraft)

• Middle French: mast
  • French: mât
• Norman: mât
• → Spanish: maste
  • ⇒ Spanish: mástel (spelling influenced by árbol)
    • ⇒ Spanish: mástil
• → Old Galician-Portuguese: masto, maste
  • Portuguese: mastro, (archaic) masto
    • ⇒ Portuguese: mastaréu

• mēst

From Proto-West Germanic *maist, from Proto-Germanic *maist, *maistaz. Cognates include Old English mǣst and Old Saxon mēst.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmaːst/

māst

1. superlative degree of grāt

māst

1. most

• Saterland Frisian: maast
• West Frisian: meast

• Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009), An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 28

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *mastь (Russian масть (mastʹ), Polish maść). Compare mazati.

• IPA^(key): /mâːst/

mȃst f (Cyrillic spelling ма̑ст)

1. grease
2. ointment
3. color
4. fat
5. lard

• “mast”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2026

From Middle Low German mast, from Old Saxon *mast, from Proto-West Germanic *mast.

mast c

1. a mast (that carries a sail)
2. a mast (similar tall structure with other uses)

   radiomast

   radio mast

• masta
• masta av
• mastad

• mast in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• mast in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• mast in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)
• mast in Svenskt nautiskt lexikon (1920)

• Mats, mats, samt, stam

• IPA^(key): /masd/, [mast]

Borrowed from English mast

mast m (plural mastiau or mestys or mestydd)

1. (nautical) mast

   Synonym: hwylbren

2. (telecommunications) mast

• mast radio (“radio mast”)
• mast teledu (“television mast”)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

mast

1. nasal mutation of bast (“dripping”)

• D. G. Lewis, N. Lewis, editors (2005–present), “mast”, in Gweiadur: the Welsh–English Dictionary, Gwerin
• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “mast”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

mast n

1. yoghurt (a milk-based product thickened by a bacterium-aided curdling process)

• most
• mhost