lateen
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of lateen
First recorded in 1720–30; from French (voile) latine “Latin (sail)”
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.
In the first millennium CE, Arab sailors in the Middle East had created the lateen sail, a triangular sail that allowed ships to travel against the wind.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
An early twentieth-century postage stamp from Aden, a city of the Arabian Peninsula, shows a dhow with lateen sails.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
By the Late Roman Period advances in sailing technology, such as lateen sails that ran from fore to aft, reduced crews to as few as five to seven people.
From National Geographic ● Nov. 3, 2015
Tourists can ride the streets in dilapidated rickshas, visit the old Arab waterfront fort and the harbor, where old wooden dhows with odd-looking lateen sails load up for trips to the mainland.
From Time Magazine Archive
They were high and graceful canoes with curving bow and stern and a braced section midships where a mast could be stepped to carry a small lateen sail.
From "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck
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.
