crowsnest

See also: crow's nest and crow's-nest

English

Etymology

From crow +‎ -s- +‎ nest.

Noun

crowsnest (plural crowsnests)

1. Alternative form of crow's nest.
   • 1920 October, Carl Clausen, “Some Pearls and a Swine”, in Romance, volume 2, number 6, serial number 12, New York, N.Y.: The Ridgway Company, page 167, column 2:

     Foc’sle-head and forward deck lay engulfed to the fore-hatch. Crowsnests and rigging were crowded with human forms awaiting the end.

   • 1947, E[dwin] J[ohn] Pratt, “Behind the Log”, in Northrop Frye, editor, The Collected Poems of E. J. Pratt, 2nd edition, Toronto, Ont.: The Macmillan Company of Canada Limited, published 1962, part two (Narrative Poems), page 342:

     Binoculars from the crowsnests and bridges / Of all the ships, escort and convoy, swept / The horizon: dots turned into lines, the lines / To hulls and decks and guns and turrets—five / British destroyers making thirty knots.

   • 1961 winter, Tracy Thompson, “Crystal Dew”, in Bond Johnson, III, editor, Shenandoah: The Washington and Lee University Review, volume XII, number 2, Lexington, Va.: Washington and Lee University, page 48:

     At sea it can be seen through telescopes on all the crowsnests and lookout towers.

   • 1981, Maurice Cocker, Destroyers of the Royal Navy, 1893-1981, London: Ian Allan Ltd, →ISBN, page 59, column 1:

     hms Duncan had crowsnests and a slightly different shaped bridge which included provision for a radar cabin.

   • 1985, “‘Notes for the Interested’”, in Clare Sydney, Graham Clarke, Oxford, Oxon: Phaidon in association with Christie’s Contemporary Art, →ISBN, page 107, column 2:

     This shipwrighting part went surprisingly well. We simply sawed an old 16 ft rowing boat into three, threw the middle bit away, strapped the front and back together again and added masts, rope ladders, scuppers, cannons, crowsnests and some bilge rats.

   • 2008, Gertjan Zwiggelaar, A Pirate’s Tale, Baltimore, Md.: PublishAmerica, →ISBN, page 437:

     Gun shots began to fill the air, as our men began to fire from the crowsnests and shrouds.