Could vs Mast - What's the difference?
could | mast |
(can)
conditional of can
#
# (Used to politely ask for permission to do something).
# ( Used to politely ask for someone else to do something).
# (Used to show the possibility that something might happen).
#* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
, title=
# (Used to suggest something).
A tall, slim post or tower, usually tapering upward, used to support, for example, the sails on a ship, flags, floodlights, or communications equipment such as an aerial, usually supported by guy-wires.
In naval tradition, a mast is a non-judicial punishment ("NJP") disciplinary hearing under which a commanding officer studies and disposes of cases involving those in his command.
The fruit of forest-trees (beech, oak, chestnut, pecan, etc.), especially if having fallen from the tree, used as fodder for pigs and other animals.
* 1955 , (Robin Jenkins), The Cone-Gatherers , Canongate 2012, page 162:
* (rfdate) Chapman
* (rfdate) South
(of swine and other animals) To feed on forest seed or fruit.
(agriculture, forestry, ecology, of a population of plants) To vary fruit and seed production in multi-year cycles.
*
* {{quote-book, title=Forest Diversity and Function: Temperate and Boreal Systems, page=28,
books.google.com/books?isbn=3540221913, author=Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Christian Körner, Ernst-Detlef Schulze, year=2004, passage=However, if this were true, all or most masting' species (e.g., ''Fagus'' and ''Quercus'') in a forest would have to ' mast in synchrony to be effective against generalist herbivores.}}
*
As a verb could
is (can).As a pronoun mast is
.could
English
Alternative forms
* (obsolete)Verb
(head)- Before I was blind, I could see very well.
- I think he could do it if he really wanted to.
- I wish I could fly!
Travels and travails, passage=Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.}}
Derived terms
* could've * couldn't (negative form of could ) * couldst (archaic second-person of could )See also
*Statistics
*mast
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) mast, from (etyl) , Irish adhmad.Noun
(en noun)Derived terms
{{der3, foremast , mainmast , masthead , mizzenmast , before the mast}}See also
(other terms) * boom * crow's nest * flagpole * spar * top, maintop, foretop, mizzentop * tower * column * pole * pylon * towerEtymology 2
(etyl) , from West Germanic; probably related to meat.Noun
(en noun)- He would begin to pick up the seed-cases or mast , squeeze each one with his fingers to see if it were fertile, and drop it if it were not.
- Oak-mast , and beech, and cornel fruit, they eat.
- Swine under an oak filling themselves with the mast .
