trysail

American  

[trahy-seyl, trahy-suhl] / ˈtraɪˌseɪl, ˈtraɪ səl /

noun

Nautical.

1. a triangular or quadrilateral sail having its luff hooped or otherwise bent to a mast, used for lying to or keeping a vessel headed into the wind; spencer.

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trysail British  

/ ˈtraɪˌseɪl, ˈtraɪsəl /

noun

1. Also called: storm trysail.  a small fore-and-aft sail, triangular or square, set on the mainmast of a sailing vessel in foul weather to help keep her head to the wind

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Etymology

Origin of trysail

First recorded in 1760–70; try + sail

Example Sentences

Two days later, the Flame blew into Cowes at dawn under a trysail because her mainsail had been ripped the day before.

From Time Magazine Archive

We have been sailing at around 80 percent with just the No. 4 jib, a trysail and triple-reefed mizzen, but now we have also damaged the mizzen luff track.

From Time Magazine Archive

When the tacking was finished and the sails had again caught the wind, the trysail was torn from the boltropes with a loud crack.

From Library of the World's Best literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 12 by Various

For'ard a succession of rapid cracks, as the trysail, having burst its sheets, was flogging itself to ribbons, added to the din, till the foremast, buckling close to the deck, crashed over the side.

From The Nameless Island A Story of some Modern Robinson Crusoes by Westerman, Percy F. (Percy Francis)

Just before this aggregate of days elapses, I haul aft my trysail sheets, and stretch over to the Cape of Good Hope.

From Memoirs of Service Afloat, During the War Between the States by Semmes, Raphael