skysail
Americannoun
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(in a square-rigged vessel) a light square sail next above the royal.
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a triangular sail set on a stay between the fore and main trucks of a racing schooner.
noun
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a square sail set above the royal on a square-rigger
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a triangular sail set between the trucks of a racing schooner
Etymology
Origin of skysail
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.
But seldom had he dared dream of touching this uppermost skysail of influence.
From Time Magazine Archive
I set and took in every sail, from a skysail to a trysail.
From Frank Mildmay Or, the Naval Officer by Marryat, Frederick
Toward morning, the wind having become light, we crossed our royal and skysail yards, and at daylight we were seen under a cloud of sail, having royals and skysails fore and aft.
From Two Years Before the Mast by Dana, Richard Henry
Everything was confusion; the captain, springing into the first boat, bade his men follow, leaving, beside Harry, but two worthless fellows, who hardly knew a skysail from a jib-sheet, in charge of the ship.
From Natalie A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds by Vale, Ferna
We must make a tourniquet of my skysail here.”
From Rattlin the Reefer by Marryat, Frederick
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.
