sail
n. countablen. a large piece of strong cloth used on a boat to catch the wind. This force moves the boat through the water.
n. a sheet of fabric, such as canvas or nylon, attached to a mast and rigging to catch the wind and propel a vessel. Often used metonymically to refer to the ships themselves in literary contexts.
The sailors raised the white sail as the wind picked up.
We spent the afternoon repairing a small tear in the main sail before heading out to sea.
The sudden shift in wind direction caused the sail to flap violently against the mast, forcing the crew to adjust the rigging immediately to maintain their course.
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.
Commonly used in the phrase 'under sail' to describe a boat moving by wind power rather than an engine.