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sail

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Sail, SAIL, sáil, sàil, saïl, and -sail

English

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

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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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

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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.
  2. (nautical, uncountable) The concept of a sail or sails, as if a substance.
    Synonym: canvass
    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.
    • 1945 May and June, Charles E. Lee, “The Penrhyn Railway and its Locomotives—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 142, text published 1848:
      " […] The quay is upwards of 1,000 feet in length, and capable of accommodating more than 100 sail of traders; and there are generally a considerable number of vessels of from 40 to 300 tons burden, from various parts of the world, waiting to receive their cargoes."
  6. (nautical) The conning tower of a submarine.
  7. The blade of a windmill.
    • 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter XX, in Great Expectations […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 327:
      So furious had been the gusts, that high buildings in town had had the lead stripped off their roofs; and in the country, trees had been torn up, and sails of windmills carried away; and gloomy accounts had come in from the coast, of shipwreck and death.
  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
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Derived terms
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Translations
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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

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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

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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.
    • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto IX”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:
      Fair ship, that from the Italian shore,
      ⁠Sailest the placid ocean-plains
      ⁠With my lost Arthur’s loved remains,
      Spread thy full wings, and waft him o’er.
  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
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Translations
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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Basque

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Romance, compare Old French seille.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sail inan

  1. plot (area or land)
    Synonym: alor
  2. scope, field
    Synonyms: arlo, alor
  3. department (subdivision of an organization)

Declension

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Declension of sail (inan C-stem)
indefinite singular plural proximal plural
absolutive sail saila sailak sailok
ergative sailek sailak sailek sailok
dative saili sailari sailei sailoi
genitive sailen sailaren sailen sailon
comitative sailekin sailarekin sailekin sailokin
causative sailengatik sailarengatik sailengatik sailongatik
benefactive sailentzat sailarentzat sailentzat sailontzat
instrumental sailez sailaz sailez sailotaz
innesive sailetan sailean sailetan sailotan
locative sailetako saileko sailetako sailotako
allative sailetara sailera sailetara sailotara
terminative sailetaraino saileraino sailetaraino sailotaraino
directive sailetarantz sailerantz sailetarantz sailotarantz
destinative sailetarako sailerako sailetarako sailotarako
ablative sailetatik sailetik sailetatik sailotatik
partitive sailik — — —
prolative sailtzat — — —

Derived terms

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Further reading

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  • “sail”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]
  • “sail”, in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia [General Basque Dictionary], Euskaltzaindia, 1987–2005

Dutch

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English sail. Doublet of zeil.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sail n (plural sails, no diminutive)

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

Irish

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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

Noun

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sail f (genitive singular saile)

  1. dirt, dross, impurity
    sail mhiotail ― metal dross
  2. stain, defilement
    sail pheaca ― the stain of sin
Declension
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Declension of sail (second declension, no plural)
bare forms
singular
nominative sail
vocative a shail
genitive saile
dative sail
forms with the definite article
singular
nominative an tsail
genitive na saile
dative leis an tsail
don tsail
Alternative forms
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Derived terms
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Further reading

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Etymology 2

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    From Old Irish sail, from Proto-Celtic *salixs (whence also Welsh helyg, Breton halegen).

    Noun

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    sail f (genitive singular saileach, nominative plural saileacha)

    1. willow (any of various trees or shrubs in the genus Salix)
    Declension
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    Declension of sail (fifth declension)
    bare forms
    singular plural
    nominative sail saileacha
    vocative a shail a shaileacha
    genitive saileach saileacha
    dative sail
    sailigh (archaic, dialectal)     		saileacha
    forms with the definite article
    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

    Variant declension:

    Declension of sail (fifth declension)
    bare forms
    singular plural
    nominative sail salacha
    vocative a shail a shalacha
    genitive salach salacha
    dative sail
    salaigh (archaic, dialectal)     		salacha
    forms with the definite article
    singular plural
    nominative an tsail na salacha
    genitive na salach na salacha
    dative leis an tsail
    leis an tsalaigh (archaic, dialectal)
    don tsail
    don tsalaigh (archaic, dialectal)     		leis na salacha
    Derived terms
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    Further reading

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    Mutation

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    Mutated forms of sail
    radical lenition eclipsis
    sail shail
    after an, tsail     		not applicable

    Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
    All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

    Old Irish

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    Pronunciation

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    Etymology 1

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    From Proto-Celtic *salixs (whence also Welsh helyg, Breton halegen), seemingly from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂el-ik-s or *sl̥h₂-ik-s. Cognate with Latin salix, Old English sealh (English sallow), and Ancient Greek ἑλίκη (helíkē), which all mean "willow", but the forms are hard to unify. The history of the word therefore must involve borrowing, possibly involving pre-Indo-European languages.[1]

    Noun

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    sail f (genitive sailech)

    1. willow (any of various trees or shrubs in the genus Salix)
    Declension
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    Feminine k-stem
    singular dual plural
    nominative sail sailigL sailig
    vocative sail sailigL sailecha
    accusative sailigN sailigL sailecha
    genitive sailech sailech sailechN
    dative sailigL sailechaib sailechaib
    Initial mutations of a following adjective:
    • H = triggers aspiration
    • L = triggers lenition
    • N = triggers nasalization
    Descendants
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    • Middle Irish: sail
    • ⇒ Middle Irish: *sailech

    Further reading

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    Etymology 2

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    See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

    Noun

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    sail

    1. inflection of sal:
      1. dative/accusative singular
      2. nominative/vocative/accusative dual

    Mutation

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    Mutation of sail
    radical lenition nasalization
    sail ṡail sail

    Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
    All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

    References

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    1. ^ Matasović, Ranko (2009), “*salik-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN

    Portuguese

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    Etymology

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    Alteration of saim.[1]

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    sail m (uncountable)

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

    References

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    1. ^ “sail”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

    Volapük

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    Noun

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    sail (nominative plural sails)

    1. (nautical) sail

    Declension

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    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

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    Welsh

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    Etymology

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

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    sail f (plural seiliau, not mutable)

    1. base, basis, foundation
      Synonyms: bas, sawd, sylfaen

    Derived terms

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    • cynsail (“precedent; premise”)
    • di-sail (“baseless, unsupported”)
    • seiliedig (“established; fundamental”)

    Further reading

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    • 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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