Word Meanings - SAIL - Book Publishers vocabulary database

1. An extent of canvas or other fabric by means of which the wind is made serviceable as a power for propelling vessels through the water. Behoves him now both sail and oar. Milton. 2. Anything resembling a sail, or regarded as a sail. 3. A wing;

Additional info about word: SAIL

1. An extent of canvas or other fabric by means of which the wind is made serviceable as a power for propelling vessels through the water. Behoves him now both sail and oar. Milton. 2. Anything resembling a sail, or regarded as a sail. 3. A wing; a van. Like an eagle soaring To weather his broad sails. Spenser 4. the extended surface of the arm of a windmill. 5. A sailing vessel; a vessel of any kind; a craft. Note: In this sense, the plural has usually the same forms as the singular; as, twenty sail were in sight. 6. A passage by a sailing vessel; a journey or excursion upon the water. Note: Sails are of two general kinds, fore-and-aft sails, and square sails. Square sails are always bent to yards, with their foot lying across the line of the vessel. Fore-and-aft sails are set upon stays or gaffs with their foot in line with the keel. A fore-and-aft sail is triangular, or quadrilateral with the after leech longer than the fore leech. Square sails are quardrilateral, but not necessarily square. See Phrases under Fore, a., and Square, a.; also, Bark, Brig, Schooner, Ship, Stay. Sail burton , a purchase for hoisting sails aloft for bending. -- Sail fluke , the whiff. -- Sail hook, a small hook used in making sails, to hold the seams square. -- Sail loft, a loft or room where sails are cut out and made. -- Sail room , a room in a vessel where sails are stowed when not in use. -- Sail yard , the yard or spar on which a sail is extended. -- Shoulder-of-mutton sail , a triangular sail of peculiar form. It is chiefly used to set on a boat's mast. -- To crowd sail. See under Crowd. -- To loose sails , to unfurl or spread sails. -- To make sail , to extend an additional quantity of sail. -- To set a sail , to extend or spread a sail to the wind. -- To set sail , to unfurl or spread the sails; hence, to begin a voyage. -- To shorten sail , to reduce the extent of sail, or take in a part. -- To strike sail , to lower the sails suddenly, as in saluting, or in sudden gusts of wind; hence, to acknowledge inferiority; to abate pretension. -- Under sail, having the sails spread.

Related words: (words related to SAIL)

• WATER-BEARER
  The constellation Aquarius.
• WATERWORT
  Any plant of the natural order Elatineæ, consisting of two genera , mostly small annual herbs growing in the edges of ponds. Some have a peppery or acrid taste.
• WATER SHREW
  Any one of several species of shrews having fringed feet and capable of swimming actively. The two common European species are the best known. The most common American water shrew, or marsh shrew , is rarely seen, owing to its nocturnal habits.
• WATER-TIGHT
  So tight as to retain, or not to admit, water; not leaky.
• WATER RAT
  The water vole. See under Vole. The muskrat. The beaver rat. See under Beaver. 2. A thief on the water; a pirate.
• WATER CRAKE
  The dipper. The spotted crake . See Illust. of Crake. The swamp hen, or crake, of Australia.
• WATER DOG
  A dog accustomed to the water, or trained to retrieve waterfowl. Retrievers, waters spaniels, and Newfoundland dogs are so trained.
• WATER SAIL
  A small sail sometimes set under a studding sail or under a driver boom, and reaching nearly to the water.
• WATER CLOCK
  An instrument or machine serving to measure time by the fall, or flow, of a certain quantity of water; a clepsydra.
• OTHERGUISE; OTHERGUESS
  Of another kind or sort; in another way. "Otherguess arguments." Berkeley.
• WATERIE
  The pied wagtail; -- so called because it frequents ponds.
• WATER BALLAST
  Water confined in specially constructed compartments in a vessel's hold, to serve as ballast.
• POWERFUL
  Large; capacious; -- said of veins of ore. Syn. -- Mighty; strong; potent; forcible; efficacious; energetic; intense. -- Pow"er*ful*ly, adv. -- Pow"er*ful*ness, n. (more info) 1. Full of power; capable of producing great effects of any
• WATER RAM
  An hydraulic ram.
• WATER LINE
  Any one of certain lines of a vessel, model, or plan, parallel with the surface of the water at various heights from the keel. Note: In a half-breadth plan, the water lines are outward curves showing the horizontal form of the ship at their several
• WATER LOCUST
  A thorny leguminous tree which grows in the swamps of the Mississippi valley.
• WATER PARSNIP
  Any plant of the aquatic umbelliferous genus Sium, poisonous herbs with pinnate or dissected leaves and small white flowers.
• WATERING
  a. & n. from Water, v. Watering call , a sound of trumpet or bugle summoning cavalry soldiers to assemble for the purpose of watering their horses. -- Watering cart, a sprinkling cart. See Water. -- Watering place. A place where water may be
• POWERABLE
  1. Capable of being effected or accomplished by the application of power; possible. J. Young. 2. Capable of exerting power; powerful. Camden.
• WATERWORN
  Worn, smoothed, or polished by the action of water; as, waterworn stones.
• DISREGARDFULLY
  Negligently; heedlessly.
• NOTOTHERIUM
  An extinct genus of gigantic herbivorous marsupials, found in the Pliocene formation of Australia.
• ISOGEOTHERMAL; ISOGEOTHERMIC
  Pertaining to, having the nature of, or marking, isogeotherms; as, an isogeothermal line or surface; as isogeothermal chart. -- n.
• SMOTHER
  Etym: 1. To destroy the life of by suffocation; to deprive of the air necessary for life; to cover up closely so as to prevent breathing; to suffocate; as, to smother a child. 2. To affect as by suffocation; to stife; to deprive of air by a thick
• ISOTHEROMBROSE
  A line connecting or marking points on the earth's surface, which have the same mean summer rainfall.
• CANDLE POWER
  Illuminating power, as of a lamp, or gas flame, reckoned in terms of the light of a standard candle.
• ANOTHER-GUESS
  Of another sort. It used to go in another-guess manner. Arbuthnot.
• INFABRICATED
  Not fabricated; unwrought; not artificial; natural.
• UNMOTHERED
  Deprived of a mother; motherless.