forebrace

From fore- +‎ brace.

forebrace (plural forebraces)

1. (nautical) A rope applied to the fore yardarm, to change the position of the foresail.
   • 1899, Morgan Robertson, Where Angels Fear to Tread:

     He noted the effect on the ship of this change; then, as though satisfied, roared out: "Let your forebraces hang, forrard there! Stand by heavin'-lines fore and aft! Stand by to go ahead with that steamer when we have your line!"

   • 1908, Morgan Robertson, The Hair Devil:

     “The gorilla was halfway up the fore rigging by this time, and the two Dutchmen had reached the foreyard, while the Sou’egian was going higher. One Dutchman laid out to windward, the other to leeward, and I thought of a plan.
     
     “‘Climb aft on the forebrace, each one of you,’ I sang out. ‘If he follows, I’ll let go the brace when you’ve reached the mainmast.’

• “forebrace”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.