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

See Examples For:

xebec

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 xebec, no doubt, is a coast trader.

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

The xebec and polacre are gaining on us, but we are going as fast through the water as the three master.

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

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 Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

That big fellow has got twelve on a side, the polacre has eight, and the xebec six, so between them they have fifty-two guns.

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