or Brigantine, a merchant-ship with two masts. This term is not universally confined to vessels of a particular construction, or which are masted and rigged in a manner different from all others. It is variously applied, by the mariners of different European nations, to a peculiar sort of vessel of their own marine. Amongst British seamen, this vessel is distinguished by having her mainmast set nearly in the plane of her keel; whereas the mainmasts of larger ships are hung athwart, or at right angles with the ship's length, and fastened to a yard which hangs parallel to the deck: but in a brig, the foremost edge of the mainmast is fastened in different places to hoops which encircle the main-mast, and slide up and down it as the sail is hoisted or lowered: it is extended by a gaff above, and a boom below.