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 main sails set nearly in the plane of her keel; whereas the main sails 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 main sail is fastened in different places to hoops which encircle the mainmast, and slide up and down it as the sail is hoisted or lowered: it is extended by a gaff above and a boom below.