studdingsail

American

[stuhd-ing-sayl, stuhn-suhl] / ˈstʌd ɪŋˌseɪl, ˈstʌn səl /

Also stuns'l.

noun

Nautical.

a light sail, sometimes set outboard of either of the leeches of a square sail and extended by booms.

studdingsail British

/ ˈstʌdɪŋˌseɪl /

noun

Also called: stunsail, stuns'l. nautical a light auxiliary sail set outboard on spars on either side of a square sail

"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

Etymology

Origin of studdingsail

1540–50; studding (< ?) + 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.

See Examples For:

studdingsail

Her great lower studdingsail swept out from her side for all the world like a butterfly-net, raking the top of the sea for us.

From Jim Davis by John Masefield

We did so, and that so suddenly, that the studdingsail booms snapped like pipe—shanks, short off by the irons.

From Tom Cringle's Log by Michael Scott

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023