Also called fore-and-aft topsail. a jib-headed fore-and-aft sail set above a gaff.
a quadrilateral fore-and-aft sail set above the spanker of a bark, between the gaff of the spanker and an upper gaff.
First recorded in 1785–95
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The wind was light, and we spread more canvas than she did, having royals and sky-sails fore and aft, and ten studding-sails; while she, being an hermaphrodite brig, had only a gaff topsail, aft.
From Two Years Before the Mast by Dana, Richard Henry
The jib, mainsail, and gaff topsail are hauled up to their very tautest; finally, the cable is slipped, and then old Sandy for the first time looks around.
From Lippincott's Magazine, October 1885 by Various
She was rigged with a mainsail, a mizen, and a foresail, to which they added a sliding bowsprit, so that a jib could be set in light winds, with a flying gaff topsail.
From The Three Admirals by Wells, J.R.
The mainsail was cast loose, jib and staysail ready, and the gaff topsail would not take many minutes to run up in its place.
From In the King's Name The Cruise of the "Kestrel" by Fenn, George Manville
The big gaff topsail was next hauled down and carefully stowed away, and finally the mainsail was lowered, stowed, and the coat put over it.
From Dick Leslie's Luck A Story of Shipwreck and Adventure by Piffard, Harold
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
