headsail
Americannoun
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any of various jibs or staysails set forward of the foremost mast of a vessel.
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any sail set on a foremast, especially on a vessel having three or more masts.
noun
Etymology
Origin of headsail
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
To reduce wind resistance, they swapped out the pointy bowsprit between the boat's two hulls with a stubbier version, because the winds were too strong for the billowing headsail that attaches to it.
From Reuters ● Sep. 29, 2013
"Ease, ease!!" shouted Rex Herbert, headsail trimmer and yacht broker at Sparkman & Stephens Brokerage.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mal Parker aboard Peter Harrison's Sojana was helping to reef a headsail when his left arm was pulled into the winch, breaking it in two places.
From Time Magazine Archive
Barely had the crewmen cleared the headsail when Gretel II nosed into a heavy wave that bucked Crewman Paul Salmon off the slippery deck.
From Time Magazine Archive
First, the smallness of the yard to which the head of the gaff-topsail is laced; and secondly, the great size of the headsail.
From King's Cutters and Smugglers 1700-1855 by Chatterton, E. Keble (Edward Keble)
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.
