adj, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   simple past and past participle of reef form-of, participle, past

Adjective

1. 1
   Having part of a sail tied up in order to adapt the size of the sail to the force of the wind.

   "The mainsail was "scandalised" - a nautical mode of describing a sail reefed at both ends[.]"

2. 2
   Semi-deployed, with the canopy initially restricted from fully opening, in order to avoid subjecting the canopy to excessive air loads or the payload to excessive g-forces from fully deploying at high airspeed.

Synonyms

All synonyms

blazedblazedfadedfriedlitloved-up

Example

More examples

"The mainsail was "scandalised" - a nautical mode of describing a sail reefed at both ends[.]"

Related phrases

close-reefed

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