Sloop
name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A single-masted sailboat with only one headsail.
"1789, Olaudah Equiano (Gustavus Vassa), The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, I stayed in this island for a few days; I believe it could not be above a fortnight; when I and some few more slaves, that were not saleable amongst the rest, from very much fretting, were shipped off in a sloop for North America."
- 2 a sailing vessel with a single mast set about one third of the boat's length aft of the bow wordnet
- 3 A sailing warship, smaller than a frigate, with its guns all on one deck.
- 4 A sloop-of-war, smaller than a frigate, larger than a corvette.
- 1 A surname.
Example
More examples"1789, Olaudah Equiano (Gustavus Vassa), The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, I stayed in this island for a few days; I believe it could not be above a fortnight; when I and some few more slaves, that were not saleable amongst the rest, from very much fretting, were shipped off in a sloop for North America."
Etymology
Borrowed from Dutch sloep. Doublet of chalupa and shallop.
Related phrases
More for "sloop"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.