staysail

[ stey-seyl; Nautical stey-suhl ]

/ ˈsteɪˌseɪl; Nautical ˈsteɪ səl /

Save This Word!

noun Nautical.

any sail set on a stay, as a triangular sail between two masts.

QUIZ

QUIZ YOURSELF ON OPPOSITES OF RED BEFORE YOU TURN SCARLET

We have a challenge that will make you blush: do you know the many words and ways to describe the opposite of red?

Question 1 of 7

Which of the following colors is used to symbolize AIR?

white

green

red

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of staysail

First recorded in 1660–70; stay³ + sail

Words nearby staysail

stay out, stay over, stay-press, stay put, stays, staysail, stay stitching, stay the course, stay with, S.T.B., stbd.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use staysail in a sentence

The 'Satanita,' however, had just before drove on to the outer flagboat and she was then kept lying with staysail to windward.
Yachting Vol. 2|Various.
I sprang to the helm and put it up, while Grampus hoisted the fore-staysail just a foot or so above the deck.
Hurricane Hurry|W.H.G. Kingston
When the fore-topmast staysail and jib were to be set, somebody had fouled the down-hauls, so that they could not be hoisted.
Down the Rhine|Oliver Optic
Mr Forbes, get the starboard fore-topmast staysail sheets aft and well belayed, if you please.
The Cruise of the "Esmeralda"|Harry Collingwood

The scavengers were sweeping down, and part of the after guard was bending a new bolt-rope on a storm staysail.
Richard Carvel, Complete|Winston Churchill

British Dictionary definitions for staysail

staysail

/ (ˈsteɪˌseɪl, ˈsteɪsəl) nautical /

noun

an auxiliary sail, often triangular, set to catch the wind, as between the masts of a yawl (mizzen staysail), aft of a spinnaker (spinnaker staysail), etc

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012