crosstree

English

cross +‎ tree

crosstree (plural crosstrees)

(nautical) A light timber or metal spreader fixed athwartships part way up a mast to spread the shrouds from higher up
- 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 35”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
  Your most usual point of perch is the head of the t’ gallant-mast, where you stand upon two thin parallel sticks (almost peculiar to whalemen) called the t’ gallant crosstrees.

a light timber to spread the shrouds

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