FORESAIL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does foresail mean? 

• FORESAIL (noun)
  The noun FORESAIL has 1 sense:

1. the lowest sail on the foremast of a square-rigged vessel

  Familiarity information: FORESAIL used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FORESAIL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The lowest sail on the foremast of a square-rigged vessel

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("foresail" is a kind of...):

canvas; canvass; sail; sheet (a large piece of fabric (usually canvas fabric) by means of which wind is used to propel a sailing vessel)

 Context examples 

At eight o’clock I had succeeded only in putting the second reef into the foresail.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

“In the Speedy,” said Cochrane, “the sailcloth was so thin that, when I made my observation, I always took my meridian through the foretopsail and my horizon through the foresail.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was a slight uphill climb, for the foresail peaked high; and the halyards, running through various blocks on the gaff and mast, gave him separate holds for hands and feet.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Then, in desperation, I abandoned the attempt to reef the mainsail and resolved to try the experiment of heaving to under the close-reefed foresail.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It was a clumsy way, but it did not take long, and soon the foresail as well was up and fluttering.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

There were only three—the jib, foresail, and mainsail; and, patched, shortened, and distorted, they were a ridiculously ill-fitting suit for so trim a craft as the Ghost.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He had been guilty of running the Ghost several points off her course in order that what little wind there was should fill the foresail and hold it steady.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The air was thick with flying wreckage, detached ropes and stays were hissing and coiling like snakes, and down through it all crashed the gaff of the foresail.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The close-reefed foresail worked.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

As I understood it, there were two ways of getting it cleared,—first, by lowering the foresail, which was comparatively easy and without danger; and second, by climbing out the peak-halyards to the end of the gaff itself, an exceedingly hazardous performance.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)