xebec

American  

[zee-bek] / ˈzi bɛk /

Also zebeck.

noun

1. a small, three-masted vessel of the Mediterranean, formerly much used by corsairs, now employed to some extent in commerce.

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xebec British  

/ ˈziːbɛk /

noun

1. a small three-masted Mediterranean vessel with both square and lateen sails, formerly used by Algerian pirates and later used for commerce

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Etymology

Origin of xebec

1750–60; alteration of earlier chebec < French < Catalan xabec or Spanish xabeque (now jabeque ), both < Arabic shabbāk

Example Sentences

By page 300 Haiti is left far behind; Albion and Lydia languish as prisoners aboard a Tripolitan xebec manned by ruffians in green turbans, and Lear has become U.S.

From Time Magazine Archive

The poor xebec looked like an insect beside the great vessel manned by the wildest and most reckless crew ever gathered on the wharves of Gibraltar—Maltese, Englishmen, Romans, Venetians, Livornese, Sardinians, and Dalmatians.

From The Dead Command From the Spanish Los Muertos Mandan by Douglas, Frances

I fancy the xebec is the fastest, sir.

From Held Fast For England A Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar (1779-83) by Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)

Within ten minutes our booms were swinging uselessly; the sea spread calm for miles around us; and we saw no fewer than three boats being lowered from the xebec, now about four miles away.

From Sir John Constantine Memoirs of His Adventures At Home and Abroad and Particularly in the Island of Corsica: Beginning with the Year 1756 by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir

The Gauntlet—a flattish-bottomed ship—footed it well before the wind, but not to compare with the xebec, which indeed was little more than a long open boat.

From Sir John Constantine Memoirs of His Adventures At Home and Abroad and Particularly in the Island of Corsica: Beginning with the Year 1756 by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir