sail

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See also: Sail, SAIL, sáil, sàil, and saïl

English

Two sailboats racing,
with the wind filling their sails
A square-rigged sail
Dimetrodon loomisi, a synapsid species with a sail (spine projection).

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English saile, sayle, seil, seyl, from Old English seġl, from Proto-West Germanic *segl, from Proto-Germanic *seglą. Cognate with West Frisian seil, Low German Segel, Dutch zeil, German Segel, Danish sejl, Swedish segel.

Noun

sail (countable and uncountable, plural sails)

  1. (nautical) A piece of fabric attached to a boat and arranged such that it causes the wind to drive the boat along. The sail may be attached to the boat via a combination of mast, spars and ropes.
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  2. (nautical, uncountable) The concept of a sail or sails, as if a substance.
    Take in sail: a storm is coming.
  3. (uncountable) The power harnessed by a sail or sails, or the use of this power for travel or transport.
  4. A trip in a boat, especially a sailboat.
    Let's go for a sail.
  5. (dated, plural "sail") A sailing vessel; a vessel of any kind; a craft.
    Twenty sail were in sight.
  6. (nautical) The conning tower of a submarine.
  7. The blade of a windmill.
  8. A tower-like structure found on the dorsal (topside) surface of submarines.
  9. The floating organ of siphonophores, such as the Portuguese man-of-war.
  10. (fishing) A sailfish.
    We caught three sails today.
  11. (paleontology) an outward projection of the spine, occurring in certain dinosaurs and synapsids
  12. Anything resembling a sail, such as a wing.
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Terms derived from sail (noun)
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2

From Middle English sailen, saylen, seilen, seilien, from Old English seġlan, siġlan (“to sail”), from Proto-West Germanic *siglijan, from *siglijaną. Cognate with West Frisian sile, Low German seilen, Dutch zeilen, German segeln, Danish sejle, Swedish segla, Icelandic sigla.

Verb

sail (third-person singular simple present sails, present participle sailing, simple past and past participle sailed)

  2. To be impelled or driven forward by the action of wind upon sails, as a ship on water; to be impelled on a body of water by steam or other power.
  3. To move through or on the water; to swim, as a fish or a waterfowl.
  4. To ride in a boat, especially a sailboat.
  5. (intransitive) To set sail; to begin a voyage.
    We sail for Australia tomorrow.
  6. To move briskly and gracefully through the air.
    • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
      As is a winged messenger of heaven, […] / When he bestrides the lazy pacing clouds, / And sails upon the bosom of the air.
    • 2002 March 20, Kazuki Takahashi, Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories (PlayStation video game, North American version), Konami:
      [flavor text of the card "Spirit of the Winds"] A spirit of the wind that freely sails the skies.
    • 2011 April 15, Saj Chowdhury, “Norwich 2 - 1 Nott'm Forest”, in BBC Sport‎[1]:
      A hopeful ball from Forest right-back Brendan Moloney to the left edge of the area was met first by Ruddy but his attempted clearance rebounded off Tyson's leg and sailed in.
  7. (intransitive) To move briskly but sedately.
    The duchess sailed haughtily out of the room.
  8. (card games, transitive) To deal out (cards) from a distance by impelling them across a surface.
    • 2007, Johnny Hughes, Texas Poker Wisdom (page 22)
      He would sit his hat across the room, and we would sail cards into it.
Derived terms
Translations

Further reading

Anagrams

Basque

Noun

sail

  1. area

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English sail. Doublet of zeil.

Pronunciation

Noun

sail n (plural sails)

  1. (nautical) The fin or sail of a submarine.
    Synonym: toren

Irish

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Old Irish sal, from Proto-Celtic *salā.

Noun

sail f (genitive singular saile)

  1. dirt, dross, impurity
    sail mhiotail ― metal dross
  2. stain, defilement
    sail pheaca ― the stain of sin
Declension
Declension of sail

Second declension

Bare forms (no plural form of this noun)

Case Singular
Nominative sail
Vocative a shail
Genitive saile
Dative sail

Forms with the definite article

Case Singular
Nominative an tsail
Genitive na saile
Dative leis an tsail

don tsail

Alternative forms
Derived terms

Further reading

Etymology 2

From Old Irish sail, from Proto-Celtic *salixs (whence also Welsh helyg, Breton halegen), from Proto-Indo-European *sl̥H-ik- (“willow”). Cognate with Latin salix, Old English sealh and English sallow.

Noun

sail f (genitive singular saileach, nominative plural saileacha)

  1. willow (any of various trees or shrubs in the genus Salix)
Declension
Declension of sail

Fifth declension

Bare forms

Case Singular Plural
Nominative sail saileacha
Vocative a shail a shaileacha
Genitive saileach saileacha
Dative sail
sailigh (archaic, dialectal) 		saileacha

Forms with the definite article

Case Singular Plural
Nominative an tsail na saileacha
Genitive na saileach na saileacha
Dative leis an tsail
leis an tsailigh (archaic, dialectal)

don tsail
don tsailigh (archaic, dialectal)

leis na saileacha
Derived terms

Further reading

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
sail shail
after an, tsail 		not applicable
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Portuguese

Etymology

Alteration of saim.[1]

Pronunciation

 

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  • Rhymes: (Brazil) -iw
  • Hyphenation: sa‧il

Noun

sail m (uncountable)

  1. Alternative form of saim (“fish oil”)

References

  1. ^ “sail”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2024

Volapük

Noun

sail (nominative plural sails)

  1. (nautical) sail

Declension

declension of sail
singular plural
nominative sail sails
genitive saila sailas
dative saile sailes
accusative saili sailis
vocative 1 o sail! o sails!
predicative 2 sailu sailus
  • 1 status as a case is disputed
  • 2 in later, non-classical Volapük only

Derived terms

Welsh

Etymology

From Middle Welsh seil, from Proto-Brythonic *söl, from Latin solea (“sole”).

Pronunciation

Noun

sail f (plural seiliau, not mutable)

  1. base, basis, foundation
    Synonym: sylfaen

Derived terms

Further reading

  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “sail”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
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