What is "fore topmast"

Fore \Fore\ (f[=o]r), a. [See Fore, adv.] Advanced, as compared with something else; toward the front; being or coming first, in time, place, order, or importance; preceding; anterior; antecedent; earlier; forward; -- opposed to back or behind; as, the fore part of a garment; the fore part of the day; the fore and of a wagon. The free will of the subject is preserved, while it is directed by the fore purpose of the state. --Southey. Note: Fore is much used adjectively or in composition. Fore bay, a reservoir or canal between a mill race and a water wheel; the discharging end of a pond or mill race. Fore body (Shipbuilding), the part of a ship forward of the largest cross-section, distinguished from middle body and after body. Fore boot, a receptacle in the front of a vehicle, for stowing baggage, etc. Fore bow, the pommel of a saddle. --Knight. Fore cabin, a cabin in the fore part of a ship, usually with inferior accommodations. Fore carriage.

1. The forward part of the running gear of a four-wheeled vehicle.

2. A small carriage at the front end of a plow beam. Fore course (Naut.), the lowermost sail on the foremost of a square-rigged vessel; the foresail. See Illust. under Sail. Fore door. Same as Front door. Fore edge, the front edge of a book or folded sheet, etc. Fore elder, an ancestor. [Prov. Eng.] Fore end.

   1. The end which precedes; the earlier, or the nearer, part; the beginning.

      I have . . . paid More pious debts to heaven, than in all The fore end of my time.
      --Shak.

   2. In firearms, the wooden stock under the barrel, forward of the trigger guard, or breech frame. Fore girth, a girth for the fore part (of a horse, etc.); a martingale. Fore hammer, a sledge hammer, working alternately, or in time, with the hand hammer. Fore leg, one of the front legs of a quadruped, or multiped, or of a chair, settee, etc. Fore peak (Naut.), the angle within a ship's bows; the portion of the hold which is farthest forward. Fore piece, a front piece, as the flap in the fore part of a sidesaddle, to guard the rider's dress. Fore plane, a carpenter's plane, in size and use between a jack plane and a smoothing plane. --Knight. Fore reading, previous perusal. [Obs.] --Hales. Fore rent, in Scotland, rent payable before a crop is gathered. Fore sheets (Naut.), the forward portion of a rowboat; the space beyond the front thwart. See Stern sheets. Fore shore.

      1. A bank in advance of a sea wall, to break the force of the surf.

      2. The seaward projecting, slightly inclined portion of a breakwater.
         --Knight.

3. The part of the shore between high and low water marks.

   Fore sight, that one of the two sights of a gun which is near the muzzle.

   Fore tackle (Naut.), the tackle on the foremast of a ship.

   Fore topmast. (Naut.) See Fore-topmast, in the Vocabulary.

   Fore wind, a favorable wind. [Obs.]

   Sailed on smooth seas, by fore winds borne.
   --Sandys.

   Fore world, the antediluvian world. [R.]
   --Southey.