topsail Hear it!

topsail definition

top·sail (täp′sāl′; naut., -səl)

noun

  1. in a square-rigged vessel, the square sail, or either of a pair of square sails, next above the lowest sail on a mast
  2. in a fore-and-aft-rigged vessel, the small sail set above the gaff of a fore-and-aft sail

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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