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• Ropes to steady the bowsprit.

1914 - Nuttall's Standard dictionary of the English language
By Nuttall, P.Austin.

• bob'st[=a]z, n.pl. (naut.) ropes or stays used to confine the bowsprit downward to the stem or cutwater, and counteract the strain of the foremast-stays.

1908 - Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language
By Thomas Davidson