sail definition | Dictionary.com

sail

[seyl]

–noun

1.	an area of canvas or other fabric extended to the wind in such a way as to transmit the force of the wind to an assemblage of spars and rigging mounted firmly on a hull, raft, iceboat, etc., so as to drive it along.

2.	some similar piece or apparatus, as the part of an arm that catches the wind on a windmill.

3.	a voyage or excursion, esp. in a sailing vessel: They went for a sail around the island.

4.	a sailing vessel or ship.

5.	sailing vessels collectively: The fleet numbered 30 sail.

6.	sails for a vessel or vessels collectively.

7.	(initial capital letter) Astronomy. the constellation Vela.

–verb (used without object)

8.	to move along or travel over water: steamships sailing to Lisbon.

9.	to manage a sailboat, esp. for sport.

10.	to begin a journey by water: We are sailing at dawn.

11.	to move along in a manner suggestive of a sailing vessel: caravans sailing along.

12.	to move along in a stately, effortless way: to sail into a room.

–verb (used with object)

13.	to sail upon, over, or through: to sail the seven seas.

14.	to navigate (a vessel).

—Verb phrase

15.

sail in or into, Informal.

a.	to go vigorously into action; begin to act; attack.

b.	to attack verbally: He would sail into his staff when work was going badly.

—Idioms

16.	in sail, with the sails set.

17.

make sail, Nautical.

a.	to set the sail or sails of a boat or increase the amount of sail already set.

b.	to set out on a voyage: Make sail for the Leeward Islands.

18.	set sail, to start a sea voyage: We set sail at midnight for Nantucket.

19.	trim one's sails, Informal. to cut expenses; economize: We're going to have to trim our sails if we stay in business.

20.	under sail, with sails set; in motion; sailing: It was good to be under sail in the brisk wind and under the warm sun.

Origin:
bef. 900; (n.) ME sail(e), seille, OE segl; c. G Segel, ON segl; (v.) ME seillen, saylen, OE siglan, seglian; c. D zeilen, ON sigla

Related forms:

sail⋅a⋅ble, adjective

sailless, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To sail

sail (sāl)

Nautical
1. A piece of fabric sewn together and fitted to the spars and rigging of a vessel so as to convert the force of the wind into forward motion of the vessel.
2. The sails of a ship or boat.
3. The superstructure of a submarine.
pl. sail or sails Nautical A sailing vessel.
Nautical A trip or voyage in a sailing craft.
Something, such as the blade of a windmill, that resembles a sail in form or function.

v. sailed, sail·ing, sails

v. intr.

Nautical
1. To move across the surface of water, especially by means of a sailing vessel.
2. To travel by water in a vessel.
3. To start out on such a voyage or journey.
4. To operate a sailing craft, especially for sport.
To move along or progress smoothly or effortlessly: sailed into the room five minutes late; sailed through the exam; sailed through the red light.

v. tr. Nautical

To navigate or manage (a vessel).
To voyage upon or across: sail the Pacific.

Phrasal Verb(s):
sail intoTo attack or criticize vigorously: sailed into the workmen for the shoddy job they were doing.

[Middle English seil, from Old English segl. Sail into, from obsolete sail, to attack, from Middle English sailen, short for assailen; see assail.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Sail

Sail\, n. [OE. seil, AS. segel, segl; akin to D. zeil, OHG. segal, G. & Sw. segel, Icel. segl, Dan. seil. [root] 153.]

1. An extent of canvas or other fabric by means of which the wind is made serviceable as a power for propelling vessels through the water.

Behoves him now both sail and oar. --Milton.

2. Anything resembling a sail, or regarded as a sail.

3. A wing; a van. [Poetic]

Like an eagle soaring To weather his broad sails. --Spenser.

4. The extended surface of the arm of a windmill.

5. A sailing vessel; a vessel of any kind; a craft.

Note: In this sense, the plural has usually the same form as the singular; as, twenty sail were in sight.

6. A passage by a sailing vessel; a journey or excursion upon the water.

Note: Sails are of two general kinds, fore-and-aft sails, and square sails. Square sails are always bent to yards, with their foot lying across the line of the vessel. Fore-and-aft sails are set upon stays or gaffs with their foot in line with the keel. A fore-and-aft sail is triangular, or quadrilateral with the after leech longer than the fore leech. Square sails are quadrilateral, but not necessarily square. See Phrases under Fore, a., and Square, a.; also, Bark, Brig, Schooner, Ship, Stay.

Sail burton (Naut.), a purchase for hoisting sails aloft for bending.

Sail fluke (Zo["o]l.), the whiff.

Sail hook, a small hook used in making sails, to hold the seams square.

Sail loft, a loft or room where sails are cut out and made.

Sail room (Naut.), a room in a vessel where sails are stowed when not in use.

Sail yard (Naut.), the yard or spar on which a sail is extended.

Shoulder-of-mutton sail (Naut.), a triangular sail of peculiar form. It is chiefly used to set on a boat's mast.

To crowd sail. (Naut.) See under Crowd.

To loose sails (Naut.), to unfurl or spread sails.

To make sail (Naut.), to extend an additional quantity of sail.

To set a sail (Naut.), to extend or spread a sail to the wind.

To set sail (Naut.), to unfurl or spread the sails; hence, to begin a voyage.

To shorten sail (Naut.), to reduce the extent of sail, or take in a part.

To strike sail (Naut.), to lower the sails suddenly, as in saluting, or in sudden gusts of wind; hence, to acknowledge inferiority; to abate pretension.

Under sail, having the sails spread.

Sail

Sail\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sailed; p. pr. & vb. n. Sailing.] [AS. segelian, seglian. See Sail, n.]

1. To be impelled or driven forward by the action of wind upon sails, as a ship on water; to be impelled on a body of water by the action of steam or other power.

2. To move through or on the water; to swim, as a fish or a water fowl.

3. To be conveyed in a vessel on water; to pass by water; as, they sailed from London to Canton.

4. To set sail; to begin a voyage.

5. To move smoothly through the air; to glide through the air without apparent exertion, as a bird.

As is a winged messenger of heaven, . . . When he bestrides the lazy pacing clouds, And sails upon the bosom of the air. --Shak.

Sail

Sail\, v. t. 1. To pass or move upon, as in a ship, by means of sails; hence, to move or journey upon (the water) by means of steam or other force.

A thousand ships were manned to sail the sea. --Dryden.

2. To fly through; to glide or move smoothly through.

Sublime she sails The a["e]rial space, and mounts the wing[`e]d gales. --Pope.

3. To direct or manage the motion of, as a vessel; as, to sail one's own ship. --Totten.

Language Translation for : sail

Spanish: vela,

German: das Segel,

Japanese: 帆

More Translations »

SAIL

/sayl/, not /S-A-I-L/ n.
1. The Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab. An important site in the early development of LISP; with the MIT AI Lab, BBN, CMU, XEROX PARC, and the Unix community, one of the major wellsprings of technical innovation and hacker-culture traditions (see the WAITS entry for details). The SAIL machines were shut down in late May 1990, scant weeks after the MIT AI Lab's ITS cluster was officially decommissioned.
2. The Stanford Artificial Intelligence Language used at SAIL (sense 1). It was an Algol-60 derivative with a coroutining facility and some new data types intended for building search trees and association lists.

Jargon File 4.2.0
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sail (n.)

O.E. segl, from P.Gmc. *seglom (cf. Swed. segel, O.N. segl, O.Fris. seil, Du. zeil, O.H.G. segal, Ger. Segel), of obscure origin with no known cognates outside Gmc. Ir. seol, Welsh hwyl "sail" are Gmc. loan-words. Sometimes referred to PIE root *sek- "to cut," as if meaning "a cut piece of cloth." The verb is O.E. segilan, from the same Gmc. source (cf. O.N. sigla, M.L.G. segelen, Ger. segeln).

SAIL
1. Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
2. Stanford Artificial Intelligence Language.
3. An early system on the Larc computer.
[Listed in CACM 2(5):16, May 1959].
[The Jargon File]
(2001-06-22)

sail

In addition to the idioms beginning with sail, also see (sail under) false colors; plain sailing; set sail; smooth sailing; take the wind out of one's sails; trim one's sails.

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