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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



618 words match “SAIL”

GLOBULAR a.
emisphere a distance equal to the radius of the sphere into the sine of 45º. -- Globular sailing, sailing on the arc of a great circle, or so as to make the shortest distance between two places; circular sailing.
GOODLY a.
Large; considerable; portly; as, a goodly number. Goodly and great he sails behind his link. Dryden.
GOOSEWING n.
One of the clews or lower corners of a course or a topsail when the middle part or the rest of the sail is furled.
GOOSEWINGED a.
Said of a fore-and-aft rigged vessel with foresail set on one side and mainsail on the other; wing and wing.
GORE n.
A wedgeshaped or triangular piece of cloth, canvas, etc., sewed into a garment, sail, etc., to give greater width at a particular part.
GORING; GORING CLOTH n.
A piece of canvas cut obliquely to widen a sail at the foot.
GOSSAMER n.
gossamer. Gossamer spider (Zoöl.), any small or young spider which spins webs by which to sail in the air. See Ballooning spider.
GRIPE v.
To tend to come up into the wind, as a ship which, when sailing closehauled, requires constant labor at the helm. R. H. Dana, Jr.
GROMMET n.
twisting on itself a single strand of an unlaid rope; also, a metallic eyelet in or for a sail or a mailbag. Sometimes written grummet.
GUNNER n.
g. or Irish] Gunner's daughter, the gun to which men or boys were lashed for punishment. [Sailor's slang] W. C. Russell.
GYBE v.
To shift from one side of a vessel to the other; -- said of the boom of a fore-and-aft sail when the vessel is steered off the wind until the sail fills on the opposite side. [Also jibe.]
HAIL v.
To declare, by hailing, the port from which a vessel sails or where she is registered; hence, to sail; to come; -- used with from; as, the steamer hails from New York.
HAL'YARD; HALYARD n.
A rope or tackle for hoisting or lowering yards, sails, flags, etc. [Written also halliard, haulyard.]
HALF a.
ck, the position of the cock of a gun when retained by the first notch. -- Half hitch, a sailor's knot in a rope; half of a clove hitch. -- Half hose, short stockings; socks. -- Half measure, an imperfect or weak line of action. -- Half note (Mus.), a minim, one half of a semibreve. -- Half pay, half of the wages…
HAND v.
To furl; -- said of a sail. Totten. To hand down, to transmit in succession, as from father to son, or from predecessor to successor; as, fables are handed down from age to age; to forward to the proper officer (the decision of a higher court); as, the Clerk of the Court of Appeals handed down its decision. -- To hand…
HANK n.
A ring or eye of rope, wood, or iron, attached to the edge of a sail and running on a stay.
HARD-TACK n.
A name given by soldiers and sailors to a kind of hard biscuit or sea bread.
HAUL v.
), to shift to any point of the compass; -- said of the wind. -- To haul off (Naut.), to sail closer to the wind, in order to get farther away from anything; hence, to withdraw; to draw back.
HEAD n.
art, or from the point or edge; as, the head of a cane, a nail, a spear, an ax, a mast, a sail, a ship; that which covers and closes the top or the end of a hollow vessel; as, the head of a cask or a steam boiler.
HEADROPE n.
That part of a boltrope which is sewed to the upper edge or head of a sail.
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