Reefing

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The process of reefing (taking in a sail); an act of reefing; also used of clothing.

    "I will not detain the reader with the contents of our sea-log, which is full of tackings and reefings, of setting and taking in of sails, and many other manoeuvres[…]."

  2. 2
    A reef (seam of quartz). Australia, New-Zealand

    "Alluvial goldfields and quartz reefings are in its vicinity, and good indications of coal."

Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of reef form-of, gerund, participle, present

Synonyms

All synonyms
aitarchipelagoarrestatollbackpedalbackwater

Example

More examples

"I will not detain the reader with the contents of our sea-log, which is full of tackings and reefings, of setting and taking in of sails, and many other manoeuvres[…]."

Related phrases

reefing bowsprit

More for "reefing"

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