spritsail

American  

[sprit-sayl, sprit-suhl] / ˈsprɪtˌseɪl, ˈsprɪt səl /

noun

Nautical.

1. a sail extended by a sprit.

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spritsail British  

/ ˈsprɪtˌseɪl, ˈsprɪtsəl /

noun

1. a rectangular sail mounted on a sprit in some 19th-century small vessels

2. (in medieval rigging) a square sail mounted on a yard on the bowsprit

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Etymology

Origin of spritsail

1425–75; late Middle English sprete seyle ( see sprit, sail); compare Dutch sprietzeil

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

spritsail

As the ship went in, one of the crew, named Henry Shergall, fell overboard as he was going into the spritsail top, and was drowned; on which account this was named Shergall's Harbour.'

From History of the Buccaneers of America by James Burney

There's just enough to take us a mile or two down the beach over the tide with the spritsail set.

From The Boy Ranchers of Puget Sound by Harold Bindloss

When the Frenchmen discovered this, they once more rehoisted their colours, and, setting a spritsail on the bowsprit, endeavoured to make off.

From True Blue by William Henry Giles Kingston

The spritsail further helped her in this, for, if the curl of a sea under her forefoot brought her to larboard or starboard, the sail forced her back again.

From The Frozen Pirate by W. Clark (William Clark) Russell

The spritsail was quilted with oakum and flax, and one of the top-gallant sails was prepared in the same manner, to see whether any thing would sink into the leak, but all in vain.

From Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy A weird series of tales of shipwreck and disaster, from the earliest part of the century to the present time, with accounts of providential escapes and heart-rending fatalities. by Anonymous

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