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Glite Dictionary
spritsail

spritsail

1 9.9
A sail set along the boat and stretched by a slanted pole from the mast
  • noun
  • /ˈsprɪtseɪl/
  • Archaic
: vela de sprit
  • During the race, the crew expertly adjusted the spritsail to optimize its angle against the breeze.

Examples

  • I forgot the spritsail.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • "That's seventeen." "—and a spritsail."

    Fiction book (1994)

  • The sailor quickly raised the spritsail to catch the wind and speed up the boat.

  • To sail effectively into the wind, the captain instructed the first mate to unfurl the spritsail.

Surface Forms

spritsail singular
spritsails plural

Morphology

spritsail = sprit + sail (semi-transparent) = sprit + sail

The compound is structurally clear ('sprit' + 'sail'), but it depends on the specialized nautical term 'sprit', which many learners may not know.

Etymology

Spritsail comes from the name of the pole, the sprit, together with sail; the sprit is a diagonal pole that acts like a 'supporting stick' to stretch a small sail on a boat. So a spritsail is simply a sail 'held out' by that pole to help the boat catch the wind.