sail

Meaning

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.
13. 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.
14. To move through or on the water; to swim, as a fish or a waterfowl.
15. To ride in a boat, especially a sailboat.
16. To set sail; to begin a voyage.
17. To move briskly and gracefully through the air.
18. To move briskly but sedately.
19. To deal out (cards) from a distance by impelling them across a surface.
20. Acronym of snow avalanche impact landform.

Etymology / origin

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.

Related words

Descendant words

• sejl(Danish) (cog)
• sail(Dutch) (bor)
• segeln(German) (cog)
• seglo(Ido) (bor)
• seegelen(Luxembourgish) (cog)
• sigla(Norwegian Nynorsk) (cog)
• layag(Tagalog) (clq)
• sel(Tok Pisin) (der)

Sources

No citations have been attached yet.