mainstay

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a person or thing on which something chiefly depends for support or stability

   Tourism remained the mainstay of the island's economy.

2. 2
   noun

   a strong rope or cable supporting a sailing ship's mainmast from the front

   The crew inspected the mainstay before the ship left harbor.

From Middle English main stay, a nautical compound of main (referring to the mainmast) + stay ("supporting rope"). The figurative sense arose by treating a crucial person or institution as the cable that keeps a mast upright.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images