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masting

 [mas-ting, mah-sting]   Origin

mast·ing

   [mas-ting, mah-sting]
noun Nautical.
1.
the masts of a ship, taken as a whole.
2.
the technique, act, or process of placing masts in sailing ships.
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Origin:
1620–30; mast1 + -ing1

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Masting is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged

mast

1   [mast, mahst]
noun
1.
Nautical.
a.
a spar or structure rising above the hull and upper portions of a ship or boat to hold sails, spars, rigging, booms, signals, etc., at some point on the fore-and-aft line, as a foremast or mainmast.
b.
any of a number of individual spars composing such a structure, as a topmast supported on trestletrees at the head of a lower mast.
c.
any of various portions of a single spar that are beside particular sails, as a top-gallant mast and royal mast formed as a single spar.
2.
Also called pillar. the upright support of a jib crane.
3.
any upright pole, as a support for an aerial, a post in certain cranes, etc.
verb (used with object)
4.
to provide with a mast or masts.
Idiom
5.
before the mast, Nautical. as an unlicensed sailor: He served several years before the mast.
Origin:
before 900; Middle English; Old English mæst; cognate with German Mast; akin to Latin mālus pole

Related forms
mast·less, adjective
mast·like, adjective
un·der·mast·ed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To masting
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

mast
"fallen nuts; food for swine," O.E. mæst, from P.Gmc. *mastaz (cf. Du., Ger. mast "mast," O.E. verb mæsten "to fatten, feed"), perhaps from PIE *mazdo-/*maddo- "to be fat, to flow" (cf. Skt. meda "fat," Goth. mats "food," see meat).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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