Naut. Forms: see TRESTLE. [f. TRESTLE sb. + TREE sb. 3 a.] pl. Two strong pieces of timber fixed horizontally fore-and-aft on opposite sides of a mast-head, to support the cross-trees, the top, and the fid of the mast above.
a. 1625. Nomenclator Navalis (Harl. MS. 2301). Tressel-trees, are ioyned to the Cross-trees and doe lie crosse each other, and serue to the same vse, theie differ onlie that the Tressel trees ar those wch goe Long-ships, the other thwart ships.
1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Seamen, 12. The trussell trees or crosse trees.
1804. A. Duncan, Mariner’s Chron., Pref. 16. Certain timbers fixed upon the hounds and cheeks of the masts, and called the trestle trees, and cross-trees.
c. 1860. H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 76. The trussle-trees … are usually made of oak.
1911. E. Gosse, Poems, Ships on Sea, iii. Loss steadfast, o’er the trackless wave I strayed, And follow still their vanishing trestle-trees.
