- a supporting or checking piece in a mechanism.
- an anchored tension member, as a cable, permanently or temporarily supporting a compression member, as a tower or pole, subject to a pull above its base from the opposite direction.
- a strip of leather at the back of a shoe used for reinforcement and sometimes to connect the quarters.
- any of various shrouds forming part of a vessel's standing rigging and leading aft from masts above a lower mast to the sides or stern of the vessel in order to reinforce the masts against forward pull.
- a stay leading aft from the upper part of a mast to the deck or stern
- a supporting piece or arresting part
- anything that supports or strengthens the back of something, such as leather covering the back seam of a shoe
