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  • gaff topsail
    gaff topsail
    noun
    a jib-headed fore-and-aft sail set above a gaff.
  • gaff-topsail
    gaff-topsail
    noun
    a sail set above a gaffsail

gaff topsail

American  
[gaf top-seyl, top-suhl] / ˈgæf ˈtɒpˌseɪl, ˈtɒpˌsəl /

noun

Nautical.

  1. Also called fore-and-aft topsail.  a jib-headed fore-and-aft sail set above a gaff.

  2. a quadrilateral fore-and-aft sail set above the spanker of a bark, between the gaff of the spanker and an upper gaff.

gaff-topsail British  

noun

  1. a sail set above a gaffsail

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of gaff topsail

First recorded in 1785–95

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.