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sail

[seyl]

noun

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.

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

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

a sailing vessel or ship.

sailing vessels collectively: The fleet numbered 30 sail.

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sails for a vessel or vessels collectively.

(initial capital letter) Astronomy. the constellation Vela.

COLLAPSE

verb (used without object)

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

to manage a sailboat, especially 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.

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Sail is always a great word to know.

So is big bang theory. Does it mean:

a theory that deduces a cataclysmic birth of the universe from the observed expansion of the universe, cosmic background radiation, abundance of the elements, and the laws of physics

the angular distance of a heavenly body above the horizon

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

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/into, Informal.

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

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.

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

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:
before 900; (noun) Middle English sail(e), seille, Old English segl; cognate with German Segel, Old Norse segl; (v.) Middle English seillen, saylen, Old English siglan, seglian; cognate with Dutch zeilen, Old Norse sigla

Related forms

sail·a·ble, adjective

sail·less, adjective

un·sail·a·ble, adjective

un·sailed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To sail

Example Sentences

Ten steamships are due today from foreign ports and one is due to sail.

Kennedy knew that sometimes the only way to reach his goal was to tack and go at angles when he couldn't sail straight ahead.

The lucky few whose parents can afford to educate them privately gain good exam results and sail into university.

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Ten steamships are due today from foreign ports and one is due to sail.

Kennedy knew that sometimes the only way to reach his goal was to tack and go at angles when he couldn't sail straight ahead.

The lucky few whose parents can afford to educate them privately gain good exam results and sail into university.

When sailing a straight line, let sail out nearly perpendicular to the boat for maximum speed.

Japan plans to launch a satellite powered by a large solar sail for a six month mission.

Reducing the sail to a minimum, the crew proceeded at nine knots.

Oracle spared even less expense, devising a paradigm-breaking trimaran with a wing for a sail.

The damaged sail is then lowered and minimal momentum is lost.

Instead, he should sail through the halls, proclaiming his longterm research plans.

The sail folds along the top of the fish and can open up in an instant.

The advantage, if it worked, would be that it could sail directly into the wind.

Two spiral galaxies sail into and through each other, pulling long trails of stars behind them, then come back and do it again.

Blackbird's rotating propeller-shaped sail is the motor.

He doesn't know this, but his case did not simply sail through as he seems to imagine that it did.

At times a sail would have been attached to the large forward pole, or bowsprit, at right.

When you sail in the ocean and you bumped in a new found continent, don t be surprised.

Its huge harbor was choked with hundreds of rotting ships that couldn't sail home because their crews had fled to the goldfields.

Later in the mission, the best bet for catching a flare is when the sail is near the horizon.

The differing shifts also mean that you can sail with people for two months that you rarely or only briefly see.

If you're not up for a sail in a gale, in any given month tides are stronger when the moon is either new or full.

Seafaring in the age of sail was backbreaking work and fraught with peril, but the sailor's real scourge was scurvy.

The four letter word for this stuff is actually an old acronym from the days of sail.

The best sailing craft can go faster than the wind is blowing, as long as they sail at an angle to the wind.

Many other styles of working sail evolved, through need, to show similar qualities of seaworthiness.

New approaches to space sail technology could give a much-needed push to interplanetary, and even interstellar, travel.

The lawyers want someone whose evidence will sail through in court without much question.

Sail down the slopes with snowboarders to learn about the laws of physics.

Air-carpet hulls could sail faster, save fuel and cut emissions.

Being able to sail more than three times the speed of the wind requires some pretty hefty engineering.

The rules currently work the other way, allowing banks to sail closer to the wind when times are good.

It can sail smoothly for years, but capsize suddenly in rough seas-and do so quite rapidly.

And when the clouds clear, you've got a different problem-thirty-knot headwinds that turn your surfboard into a sail.

Hundreds of children were said to be aboard each vessel, singing as they set sail.

Maybe when people sail near the edge of the world god mysteriously turns them around and points them to another place.

Right now the sail is tumbling, so flashes could occur at any time.

We prefer to sail and surf without dry-suits or even wet suits.

He had intended to have the computer built prior to setting sail but ran out of time.

Britain has two pint-sized ones, and they often sail without aircraft.

So far the entrants include a flying pogo stick, a sail that lands on mosques, and.

Trailing oil-absorbing booms, the drones could sail even in a storm to help with cleanup, unlike human-crewed ships.

The more of the toy that floats above the water, the more sail area the wind has to act upon.

These bolts are at the end of a long lever with a sail at the end.

The renegades had dashed out to throw their sail planes off into the wind.

That's as silly as pointing a fan into your sail and hoping it will propel you forward.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

sail (seɪl)

—n
1.	an area of fabric, usually Terylene or nylon (formerly canvas), with fittings for holding it in any suitable position to catch the wind, used for propelling certain kinds of vessels, esp over water
2.	a voyage on such a vessel: a sail down the river
3.	a vessel with sails or such vessels collectively: to travel by sail; we raised seven sail in the northeast
4.	a ship's sails collectively
5.	something resembling a sail in shape, position, or function, such as the part of a windmill that is turned by the wind or the part of a Portuguese man-of-war that projects above the water
6.	the conning tower of a submarine
7.	in sail having the sail set
8.	make sail
	a. to run up the sail or to run up more sail
	b. to begin a voyage
9.	set sail
	a. to embark on a voyage by ship
	b. to hoist sail
10.	under sail
	a. with sail hoisted
	b. under way

—vb (often foll by over, through, etc) (often foll by in or into)
11.	to travel in a boat or ship: we sailed to Le Havre
12.	to begin a voyage; set sail: we sail at 5 o'clock
13.	(of a vessel) to move over the water: the liner is sailing to the Caribbean
14.	(tr) to manoeuvre or navigate a vessel: he sailed the schooner up the channel
15.	(tr) to sail over: she sailed the Atlantic single-handed
16.	to move fast or effortlessly: we sailed through customs; the ball sailed over the fence
17.	to move along smoothly; glide
18.	informal
	a. to begin (something) with vigour
	b. to make an attack (on) violently with words or physical force

[Old English segl; related to Old Frisian seil, Old Norse segl, German Segel]

'sailable

—*adj*

'sailless

—*adj*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

sail

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

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verb is O.E. segilan, from the same Gmc. source (cf. O.N. sigla, M.L.G. segelen, Ger. segeln).

COLLAPSE

FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

SAIL definition

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].
[Jargon File]
(2001-06-22)

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

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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