English Explanatory Dictionary

sail

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A piece of fabric attached to a boat and arranged such that it causes the wind to drive the boat along. The sail may be attached to the boat via a combination of mast, spars and ropes.
  2. The concept of a sail or sails, as if a substance.
  3. The power harnessed by a sail or sails, or the use of this power for travel or transport.
  4. A trip in a boat, especially a sailboat.
  5. A sailing vessel; a vessel of any kind; a craft.
  6. The conning tower of a submarine.
  7. The blade of a windmill.
  8. A tower-like structure found on the dorsal (topside) surface of submarines.
  9. The floating organ of siphonophores, such as the Portuguese man-of-war.
  10. A sailfish.
  11. an outward projection of the spine, occurring in certain dinosaurs and synapsids
  12. Anything resembling a sail, such as a wing.
verb
  1. To be impelled or driven forward by the action of wind upon sails, as a ship on water; to be impelled on a body of water by steam or other power.
  2. To move through or on the water; to swim, as a fish or a waterfowl.
  3. To ride in a boat, especially a sailboat.
  4. To set sail; to begin a voyage.
  5. To move briskly and gracefully through the air.
  6. To move briskly but sedately.
  7. To deal out (cards) from a distance by impelling them across a surface.
noun
  1. Acronym of snow avalanche impact landform.

Pronunciation

/seɪl/ [seɪɫ] en-us-sail.ogg

Word forms

sail sails sailing sailed

Etymology

From Middle English saile, sayle, seil, seyl, from Old English seġl, from Proto-West Germanic *segl, from Proto-Germanic *seglą. Cognate with West Frisian seil, Low German Segel, Dutch zeil, German Segel, Danish sejl, Swedish segel.

Synonyms

sail canvass

Related words

W:Template:Sail Types W:Parts of a sail

Derived words

after-sail balloon sail by sail crowd sail drag sail drift sail electric sail foresail forestaysail full sail gaff sail gaffsail headsail knock the wind out of someone's sails light sail lugsail mackerel sky and mare's-tails make lofty ships carry low sails mackerel sky and mare's-tails make tall ships carry low sails mainsail make sail mizzensail moonsail photon sail point of sail riding sail ringsail sailback sailboard sailboat sail-by sail-by salute sailcloth sail coat sail curve sailduck sailer sailfin sail fine sailfish sail-fluke sailflying sail foam sailing sail-like saillike sail loft sail-plan sailpunk sailray sail-road sailroom sailship sail sign sailsman sail vault sail wagon sailwear sailworthy saily sail-yard
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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