stunsail
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of stunsail
First recorded in 1755–65; syncopated variant of studdingsail
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.
We cracked on sail, even setting the topmast stunsail, till it blew away.
From For Love of Country A Story of Land and Sea in the Days of the Revolution by Brady, Cyrus Townsend
Found the wind slight but for the first time quite fair in a due east, all the sails squared and also the stunsail out.
From A Journey to America in 1834 by Heywood, Robert
A stunsail boom had been rigged out over the caisson, and rendered extremely fit for pedestrianism by plentiful libations of slush and soft soap.
From In Eastern Seas Or, the Commission of H.M.S. 'Iron Duke,' flag-ship in China, 1878-83 by Smith, J. J.
Bob felt horribly uncomfortable, for a moment, as the shot hummed overhead; cutting one of the stunsail booms in two, and making five fresh holes in the sails.
From Held Fast For England A Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar (1779-83) by Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
We presently fired again, this time cutting the royal stunsail sheet and setting the sail violently flapping, with the result that it had to be taken in before the sheet could be spliced.
From A Middy in Command A Tale of the Slave Squadron by Hodgson, Edward S.
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.
