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g through woods or in meadows, as when it is tossed up in so many whimsical figures at Versailles. Addison. As soon as, or So soon as, imediately at or after another event. "As soon as he came nigh unto the camp . . . he saw the calf, and the dancing." Ex. xxxii. 19. See So . . . as, under So. -- Soon at, as soon as;…

Of or pertaining to the southwest; southwesterly; as, to sail a southwestern course.

n. Span blocks (Naut.), blocks at the topmast and topgallant-mast heads, for the studding-sail halyards. -- Span counter, an old English child's game, in which one throws a counter on the ground, and another tries to hit it with his counter, or to get his counter so near it that he can span the space between them, and…

r and warmer. Fairholt. -- Spanish reef (Naut.), a knot tied in the head of a jib-headed sail. -- Spanish sheep (Zoöl.), a merino. -- Spanish white, an impalpable powder prepared from chalk by pulverizing and repeated washings, -- used as a white pigment. -- Spanish windlass (Naut.), a wooden roller, with a rope wo…

The after sail of a ship or bark, being a fore-and-aft sail attached to a boom and gaff; -- sometimes called driver. See Illust. under Sail. Totten.

A fore-and-aft sail, abaft the foremast or the mainmast, hoisted upon a small supplementary mast and set with a gaff and no boom; a trysail carried at the foremast or mainmast; -- named after its inventor, Knight Spencer, of England [1802]. Spencer mast, a small mast just abaft the foremast or mainmast, for hoisting th…

See Sailfish (a)

To relieve a sail from the pressure of the wind, so that it can be more easily reefed or furled, or to lessen the strain. Spilling line (Naut.), a rope used for spilling, or dislodging, the wind from the belly of a sail. Totten.

A large triangular sail set upon a boom, -- used when running before the wind.

n steadily and swiftly, as before a strong wind; to be driven before the wind without any sail, or with only a part of the sails spread; to scud under bare poles. [Written also spoon.] When virtue spooms before a prosperous gale, My heaving wishes help to fill the sail. Dryden.

ader surface or extent; to open; to unfurl; as, to spread a carpet; to spread a tent or a sail. He bought a parcel of a field where he had spread his tent. Gen. xxxiii. 19. Here the Rhone Hath spread himself a couch. Byron.

Watchman's rattle, under Watchman. -- To spring the luff (Naut.), to ease the helm, and sail nearer to the wind than before; -- said of a vessel. Mar. Dict. -- To spring a mast or spar (Naut.), to strain it so that it is unserviceable.

A small boom, pole, or spar, which crosses the sail of a boat diagonally from the mast to the upper aftmost corner, which it is used to extend and elevate.

Having the sails extended upon yards suspended horizontally by the middle, as distinguished from fore-and-aft sails; thus, a ship and a brig are square-rigged vessels.

ish (Zoöl.) (a) A sea bass (Serranus fascicularis) of the Southern United States. (b) The sailor's choice (Diplodus rhomboides). (c) The redmouth, or grunt. (d) A market fish of Bermuda (Holocentrum Ascensione). -- Squirrel grass (Bot.), a pestiferous grass (Hordeum murinum) related to barley. In California the stiffl…

t were carved." Sir H. Wotton. -- To stand off and on (Naut.), to remain near a coast by sailing toward land and then from it. -- To stand on (Naut.), to continue on the same tack or course. -- To stand out. (a) To project; to be prominent. "Their eyes stand out with fatness." Psalm lxxiii. 7. (b) To persist in oppo…

reputation; rank; as, a man of good standing, or of high standing. Standing off (Naut.), sailing from the land. -- Standing on (Naut.), sailing toward land.

ne tack to another. R. H. Dana, Jr. -- Stay holes (Naut.), openings in the edge of a staysail through which the hanks pass which join it to the stay. -- Stay tackle (Naut.), a tackle attached to a stay and used for hoisting or lowering heavy articles over the side. -- To miss stays (Naut.), to fail in the attempt to…

e boat steers easily. Where the wind Veers oft, as oft [a ship] so steers, and shifts her sail. Milton.

To sail by the wind under press of canvas; as, the ship stretched to the eastward. Ham. Nav. Encyc. Stretch out, an order to rowers to extend themselves forward in dipping the oar.