spritsail
Americannoun
noun
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a rectangular sail mounted on a sprit in some 19th-century small vessels
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(in medieval rigging) a square sail mounted on a yard on the bowsprit
Etymology
Origin of spritsail
1425–75; late Middle English sprete seyle ( see sprit, sail); compare Dutch sprietzeil
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.
One of the Italians took a turn with it over a cleat, while I hastened to lower our big spritsail.
From Tales of the Fish Patrol by Varian, George
A small scow might have a one-mast or two-mast spritsail rig, or might be gaff rigged; a large scow might be sloop rigged or schooner rigged.
From The Migrations of an American Boat Type by Chapelle, Howard I. (Howard Irving)
I concluded to take a boat, and procured of Frank Stanley a little row-boat, with a spritsail for running before the wind; for I intended to choose my own time for crossing.
From Adrift in the Ice-Fields by Hall, Charles W.
In quick succession we jumped off the spritsail yard, the black leading.
From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 4, September, 1850 by Various
I set all the sails in the ship, the mainsail with two bonnets, the foresail, spritsail, mizzen, main topsail, and the boat’s sail on the poop.
From The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot, 985-1503 by Olson, Julius E.
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.
