noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The lowest (and usually the largest) square sail hung on the foremast
2. 2
   the lowest sail on the foremast of a square-rigged vessel wordnet
3. 3
   A square fore-and-aft sail set on the foremast, but behind it, on a schooner or other similar vessel.
4. 4
   A triangular sail set forward of the foremast: forestaysail.

Synonyms

All synonyms

headsailheadsailjibsail

Etymology

From fore- + sail. Compare Dutch voorzeil, German Vorsegel, Danish forsejl, Swedish försegel.

Related phrases

fore and aft

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.