after-sail

English

Alternative forms

• after sail
• aftersail

Etymology

From after- +‎ sail.

Noun

after-sail (plural after-sails)

1. (nautical) One of the sails on the mizzenmast, or on the stays between the mainmast and mizzenmast.
   • 1994, Ben Finney, Voyage of Rediscovery: A Cultural Odyssey Through Polynesia:

     On this final leg home, these experiments were taken a step further by putting an extra-large sail on the after mast, increasing sail area and changing the balance of the rig in that the after sail was then larger than the forward sail.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “after-sail”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Translations

sail behind the mainsail

• Hebrew: מִפְרְשֵׂי הָאַחְרָה (he) m pl (mifresey ha'akhra)
• Maori: rā tauaki