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masthead

[mast-hed, mahst-]

Origin

noun

Also called flag. a statement printed in all issues of a newspaper, magazine, or the like, usually on the editorial page, giving the publication's name, the names of the owner and staff, etc.

Also called nameplate. a line of type on the front page of a newspaper or the cover of a periodical giving the name of the publication.

Nautical.

the head of a mast.

the uppermost point of a mast.

verb (used with object) Nautical.

to hoist a yard to the fullest extent.

to hoist to the truck of a mast, as a flag.

to send to the upper end of a mast as a punishment.

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Masthead is one of our favorite verbs.

So is peculate. Does it mean:

to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.

to run away hurriedly; flee.

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adjective

Nautical. run up to the head of a mast: masthead rig.

Origin:
1740–50; mast¹ + head

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To masthead

Collins

World English Dictionary

masthead (ˈmɑːstˌhɛd)

—n
1.	nautical
	a. the head of a mast
	b. (as modifier): masthead sail
2.	Also called: flag the name of a newspaper or periodical, its proprietors, staff, etc, printed in large type at the top of the front page

—vb
3.	to send (a sailor) to the masthead as a punishment
4.	to raise (a sail) to the masthead

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

masthead

1748, "top of a ship's mast" (the place for the display of flags), hence, from 1838, "top of a newspaper;" from mast (1) + head.

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flag nameplate pendant

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Matching Quote

"Just before reaching the lighthouse, we saw the sun set in the Bay,—for standing on that narrow cape was, as I have said, like being on the deck of a vessel, or rather at the masthead of a man-of-war, thirty miles at sea, though we knew that at the same moment the sun was setting behind our native hills, which were just below the horizon in that direction. This sight drove everything else quite out of our heads, and Homer and the Ocean came in again with a rush,—
Ev d' epes' Okeanoi lampron phaos eelioio,
the shining torch of the sun fell into the ocean."

-Henry David Thoreau

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masthead

mast·head