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Glite Dictionary
square sail

square sail

1 8.5
A four-sided piece of cloth hung on a bar across a ship's mast to catch the wind
  • noun
  • Archaic
translation icon : vela cuadrada
  • They are detailed enough to show that the vessels were impressive: generally, they had 15 oars on each side and square sails, and were probably about 50 feet long.
  • a large square sail
  • a mast with a square sail

Examples

  • "Well, my cousin's grandfather sailed in her," Stole maintained, "and she had nine square sails, seven stay sails, a jib—"

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Update: Readers of the blog note that the word "clew" has several other meanings today, including one of the two lower corners of a square sail and the lower aft corner of a fore-and-aft sail.

    Blog text (20)

  • There was one mast with a square sail, hanging from a yard no wider than the boat.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Billowing from the thick mast was a large square sail.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Like the other northern vessels of the era, it was propelled by a single square sail on a centrally stepped mast.

    Academic text (1996)

  • The square sail on the forward mast snapped in the breeze, its long cordelle dangling like a tree snake from the masthead to the deck.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • The ship sailed smoothly with its large, square sail catching the strong wind.

  • As the sun set, the square sail shimmered in the fading light, guiding the vessel home.

  • The old sailing ship was equipped with a sturdy square sail that has been used for centuries.

Synonyms

sail
vssquare sail
103 1.0

A large piece of strong fabric on a boat that catches wind to move the boat

is four sided and hung on a horizontal yard on old ships

Surface Forms

square sail singular
square sails plural

Morphology

square + sail

The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from 'square' (four-sided) + 'sail' (piece of canvas used for propulsion); a B1 learner who knows both words can infer a sail that is four-sided. Although a nautical/technical term, the constituent meanings map transparently onto the compound, and similar compounds exist cross-linguistically, supporting immediate comprehensibility.

Etymology

Square sail is a large, four-sided sail hung from a long wooden pole across a ship's mast. Imagine a big square of cloth catching wind from behind and pushing the ship on 'long sea trips', so the name links the shape 'square' and its use for those journeys.