sail
/seɪl/ noun, verb
- noun (nautical) 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.
- noun (nautical, uncountable) The concept of a sail or sails, as if a substance. “Take in sail: a storm is coming.”
- noun (uncountable) The power harnessed by a sail or sails, or the use of this power for travel or transport.
- noun A trip in a boat, especially a sailboat. “Let's go for a sail.”
- noun (dated, plural "sail") A sailing vessel; a vessel of any kind; a craft. “Twenty sail were in sight.”
- noun (nautical) The conning tower of a submarine.
- noun The blade of a windmill.
- noun A tower-like structure found on the dorsal (topside) surface of submarines.
- verb 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.
- verb To move through or on the water; to swim, as a fish or a waterfowl.
- verb To ride in a boat, especially a sailboat.
- verb (intransitive) To set sail; to begin a voyage. “We sail for Australia tomorrow.”
- verb To move briskly and gracefully through the air.
- verb (intransitive) To move briskly but sedately. “The duchess sailed haughtily out of the room.”
- verb (card games, transitive) To deal out (cards) from a distance by impelling them across a surface.
Synonyms
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.
From Middle English sailen, saylen, seilen, seilien, from Old English seġlan, siġlan (“to sail”), from Proto-West Germanic *siglijan, from *siglijaną. Cognate with West Frisian sile, Low German seilen, Dutch zeilen, German segeln, Danish sejle, Swedish segla, Icelandic sigla.
Webster’s 1913
- noun 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.
- noun Anything resembling a sail, or regarded as a sail.
- verb 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 the action of steam or other power.
- verb To move through or on the water; to swim, as a fish or a water fowl.
Etymology [OE. seil, AS. segel, segl; akin to D. zeil, OHG. segal, G. & Sw. segel, Icel. segl, Dan. seil. sq. root 153.]
Etymology [AS. segelian, seglian. See Sail, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “sail”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details