sail - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Two sailboats racing,
with the wind filling their sails

A square-rigged sail

†Dimetrodon loomisi, a synapsid species with a sail (spine projection).

From Middle English saile, sayle, seil, seyl, from Old English seġl, from Proto-West Germanic *segl, from Proto-Germanic *seglą. Cognate with West Frisian seil, Low German Segel, Dutch zeil, German Segel, Danish sejl, Swedish segel.

sail (countable and uncountable, plural sails)

  1. (nautical) A piece of fabric attached to a boat and arranged such that it causes the wind to drive the boat along. The sail may be attached to the boat via a combination of mast, spars and ropes.
  2. (nautical, uncountable) The concept of a sail or sails, as if a substance.
    Synonym: canvass
    Take in sail: a storm is coming.
  3. (uncountable) The power harnessed by a sail or sails, or the use of this power for travel or transport.
  4. A trip in a boat, especially a sailboat.
    Let's go for a sail.
  5. (dated, plural "sail") A sailing vessel; a vessel of any kind; a craft.
    Twenty sail were in sight.
    • 1945 May and June, Charles E. Lee, “The Penrhyn Railway and its Locomotives—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 142, text published 1848:
      " […] The quay is upwards of 1,000 feet in length, and capable of accommodating more than 100 sail of traders; and there are generally a considerable number of vessels of from 40 to 300 tons burden, from various parts of the world, waiting to receive their cargoes."
  6. (nautical) The conning tower of a submarine.
  7. The blade of a windmill.
    • 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter XX, in Great Expectations […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 327:
      So furious had been the gusts, that high buildings in town had had the lead stripped off their roofs; and in the country, trees had been torn up, and sails of windmills carried away; and gloomy accounts had come in from the coast, of shipwreck and death.
  8. A tower-like structure found on the dorsal (topside) surface of submarines.
  9. The floating organ of siphonophores, such as the Portuguese man-of-war.
  10. (fishing) A sailfish.
    We caught three sails today.
  11. (paleontology) an outward projection of the spine, occurring in certain dinosaurs and synapsids
  12. Anything resembling a sail, such as a wing.

a piece of fabric attached to a boat

a trip in a boat

the blade of a windmill

floating organ of siphonophores

paleontology: outward projection of the spine

Translations to be checked

From Middle English sailen, saylen, seilen, seilien, from Old English seġlan, siġlan (“to sail”), from Proto-West Germanic *siglijan, from *siglijaną. Cognate with West Frisian sile, Low German seilen, Dutch zeilen, German segeln, Danish sejle, Swedish segla, Icelandic sigla.

sail (third-person singular simple present sails, present participle sailing, simple past and past participle sailed)

  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 steam or other power.
    • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto IX”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:
      Fair ship, that from the Italian shore,
      ⁠Sailest the placid ocean-plains
      ⁠With my lost Arthur’s loved remains,
      Spread thy full wings, and waft him o’er.
  2. To move through or on the water; to swim, as a fish or a waterfowl.
  3. To ride in a boat, especially a sailboat.
  4. (intransitive) To set sail; to begin a voyage.
    We sail for Australia tomorrow.
  5. To move briskly and gracefully through the air.
    • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
      As is a winged messenger of heaven, […] / When he bestrides the lazy pacing clouds, / And sails upon the bosom of the air.
    • 2011 April 15, Saj Chowdhury, “Norwich 2 - 1 Nott'm Forest”, in BBC Sport‎[1]:
      A hopeful ball from Forest right-back Brendan Moloney to the left edge of the area was met first by Ruddy but his attempted clearance rebounded off Tyson's leg and sailed in.
  6. (intransitive) To move briskly but sedately.
    The duchess sailed haughtily out of the room.
  7. (card games, transitive) To deal out (cards) from a distance by impelling them across a surface.
    • 2007, Johnny Hughes, Texas Poker Wisdom, page 22:
      He would sit his hat across the room, and we would sail cards into it.

to ride in a boat, especially sailboat

to move briskly and gracefully through the air

to move briskly but sedately

Borrowed from Romance, compare Old French seille.

sail inan

  1. plot (area or land)
    Synonym: alor
  2. scope, field
    Synonyms: arlo, alor
  3. department (subdivision of an organization)

Borrowed from English sail. Doublet of zeil.

sail n (plural sails, no diminutive)

  1. (nautical) the fin or sail of a submarine
    Synonym: toren

From Old Irish sal, from Proto-Celtic *salā.

sail f (genitive singular saile)

  1. dirt, dross, impurity
    sail mhiotail ― metal dross
  2. stain, defilement
    sail pheaca ― the stain of sin

From Old Irish sail, from Proto-Celtic *salixs (whence also Welsh helyg, Breton halegen).

sail f (genitive singular saileach, nominative plural saileacha)

  1. willow (any of various trees or shrubs in the genus Salix)

Variant declension:

Mutated forms of sail

radical lenition eclipsis
sail shailafter an, tsail not applicable

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

From Proto-Celtic *salixs (whence also Welsh helyg, Breton halegen), seemingly from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂el-ik-s or *sl̥h₂-ik-s. Cognate with Latin salix, Old English sealh (English sallow), and Ancient Greek ἑλίκη (helíkē), which all mean "willow", but the forms are hard to unify. The history of the word therefore must involve borrowing, possibly involving pre-Indo-European languages.[1]

sail f (genitive sailech)

  1. willow (any of various trees or shrubs in the genus Salix)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

sail

  1. inflection of sal:
    1. dative/accusative singular
    2. nominative/vocative/accusative dual

Mutation of sail

radical lenition nasalization
sail ṡail sail

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

  1. ^ Matasović, Ranko (2009), “*salik-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN

Alteration of saim.[1]

sail m (uncountable)

  1. alternative form of saim (“fish oil”)

  2. ^ “sail”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

sail (genitive saila, plural sails)

  1. (nautical) sail

From Middle Welsh seil, from Proto-Brythonic *söl, from Latin solea (“sole”).

sail f (plural seiliau, not mutable)

  1. base, basis, foundation
    Synonyms: bas, sawd, sylfaen