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Glite Dictionary
square-rigger

square-rigger

1 9.9
A ship with large square sails hung on horizontal bars across the masts
  • noun
  • /ˈskwɛrˌɪɡər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : barco de aparejo cuadrado
  • square-rigger sailed
  • build square-riggers
  • three-masted square-rigger

Examples

  • She could swear it had been a square-rigger.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Eighty years before that, an English ancestor left Liverpool for Pennsylvania in the square-rigger.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • The historic square-rigger sailed gracefully across the bay, its large sails billowing in the wind.

  • Visitors at the maritime museum can explore a beautifully restored square-rigger that dates back to the 1800s.

  • During the tall ships festival, several stunning square-riggers lined the harbor, showcasing their impressive sails and craftsmanship.

Synonyms

brig
vssquare-rigger
  • Archaic
3 9.6

A sailing ship with two masts and square sails on both

is not limited to two masts and covers ships with other mast counts
windjammer
vssquare-rigger
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A large sailing ship with several masts and square sails

is not defined by large size or a specific historical era
barque
vssquare-rigger
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A sailing ship with three or more masts, the rear mast having sails along the ship and the others across

is about ships with principal sails on horizontal yards rather than mixed rigging

Surface Forms

square-rigger singular
square-riggers plural

Morphology

square-rigger = square + rig (semi-transparent) = square + rig + er

Built from 'square' + 'rig' with the agentive/nominal suffix '-er'; while the components are clear, the shift to denote a ship (not a person) is somewhat specialized and may not be obvious to all learners.

Etymology

The word square-rigger comes from square (here meaning 'across') and rig (meaning 'to set up sails'), so a square-rigger is a ship whose main sails are set on horizontal yards across the mast.