What's the difference between sail and topsail?

Sail


Definition:

  • (n.) An extent of canvas or other fabric by means of which the wind is made serviceable as a power for propelling vessels through the water.
  • (n.) Anything resembling a sail, or regarded as a sail.
  • (n.) A wing; a van.
  • (n.) The extended surface of the arm of a windmill.
  • (n.) A sailing vessel; a vessel of any kind; a craft.
  • (n.) A passage by a sailing vessel; a journey or excursion upon the water.
  • (n.) 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 the action of steam or other power.
  • (n.) To move through or on the water; to swim, as a fish or a water fowl.
  • (n.) To be conveyed in a vessel on water; to pass by water; as, they sailed from London to Canton.
  • (n.) To set sail; to begin a voyage.
  • (n.) To move smoothly through the air; to glide through the air without apparent exertion, as a bird.
  • (v. t.) To pass or move upon, as in a ship, by means of sails; hence, to move or journey upon (the water) by means of steam or other force.
  • (v. t.) To fly through; to glide or move smoothly through.
  • (v. t.) To direct or manage the motion of, as a vessel; as, to sail one's own ship.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) If we’re waiting around for the Democratic version to sail through here, or the Republican version to sail through here, all those victims who are waiting for us to do something will wait for days, months, years, forever and we won’t get anything done.” Senator Bill Nelson, whose home state of Florida is still reeling from the Orlando shooting, said he felt morally obligated to return to his constituents with results.
  • (2) Porec , a port in Istria, is a good place to learn to sail; try the marina (marina-porec@pu.tel.hr) or istra-yachting.com .
  • (3) The coke sailed up my nasal passage, leaving behind the delicious smell of a hot leather car seat on the way back from the beach.
  • (4) The passengers were then flown to an Australian icebreaker, the Aurora Australis, which had cracked through ice floes and was now sailing towards Australia's Casey research base.
  • (5) He set sail on his $15m yacht Sorcerer II on an unending voyage with the mission, along the way, "to put everything that Darwin missed into context" and map the whole world's genetic components.
  • (6) When I clambered onto the fishing boat after the last men left, it occurred to me that an armed smuggler might be hiding below deck, waiting to sail the boat back to Libya.
  • (7) Ships should be able to sail directly over the north pole by the middle of this century, considerably reducing the costs of trade between Europe and China but posing new economic, strategic and environmental challenges for governments, according to scientists.
  • (8) "In ocean races in sailing a handicap prize is awarded as well as a line honours prize to recognise sailing skill rather than simply the newest and most expensive boat," writes Benjamin Penny.
  • (9) For most people this ship has sailed and they want to move on.
  • (10) The new royal research ship will be sailing into the world’s iciest waters to address global challenges that affect the lives of hundreds of millions of people, including global warming, the melting of polar ice and rising sea levels,” he said.
  • (11) The 700-strong trade mission to Emperor Qianlong sailed in a man-of-war equipped with 66 guns, compromising diplomats, businessmen and soldiers, but it ended in an impasse with the emperor refusing to meet them, saying: "We the celestial empire have never valued ingenious articles, nor do we have the slightest need of your country's manufactures."
  • (12) Fabregas hammers it down the middle, the ball sailing slightly to the left before bulging the net.
  • (13) The SAILS offers a criterion-based means of quantifying patient functional status for both clinical and research applications.
  • (14) The broadcast featured panoramic shots of the hundreds of boats, tugs, cruisers and canoes sailing past the Houses of Parliament during the pageant staged as part of the national celebrations in June.
  • (15) "I don't know why," he says, but it's something that didn't even happen at his lowest ebb: amid the bleakness of the early 70s, he somehow kept sporadically producing incredible songs: Til I Die, This Whole World, Sail On Sailor… There's always touring, however.
  • (16) Back in Liverpool, however: "My great-grandfather on my mother's side was a qualified ship's captain, but was never allowed to sail out of Liverpool as such, because the crews would not take orders from a black captain.
  • (17) Ahmad boarded at roughly the same time, calling to tell his family he would be sailing for Italy that night.
  • (18) Tourists Guy and Jo from Margaret River, in Western Australia, were preparing to sail in the lagoon in a glass-bottom boat when a police officer stopped them.
  • (19) A similar surge was expected this “sailing season”, Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for the UNHCR, told Guardian Australia.
  • (20) Some of those operations may “sail close to the wind” in terms of breaking existing laws.

Topsail


Definition:

  • (n.) In a square-rigged vessel, the sail next above the lowermost sail on a mast. This sail is the one most frequently reefed or furled in working the ship. In a fore-and-aft rigged vessel, the sail set upon and above the gaff. See Cutter, Schooner, Sail, and Ship.

Example Sentences:

Words possibly related to "sail"

Words possibly related to "topsail"