sail

See also: Sail, SAIL, sáil, sàil, and saïl

English
Two sailboats racing,
with the wind filling their sails
A square-rigged sail
Dimetrodon loomisi, a synapsid species with a sail (spine projection).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /seɪl/, [seɪ̯ɫ]
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪl
  • Homophone: sale

Etymology 1

From Middle English saile, sayle, seil, seyl, from Old English seġl, from Proto-Germanic *seglą (compare earlier Middle Low German segel and later Low German sail), cognate with Dutch zeil, German Segel, Danish sejl, Norwegian Bokmål seil, Norwegian Nynorsk segl from pre-Germanic/Celtic sek-lo (compare Welsh hwyl, Irish séol), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- 'to cut'. More at saw.

Noun

sail (countable and uncountable, plural sails)

  1. (nautical) A piece of fabric attached to a boat and arranged such that it causes the wind to drive the boat along. The sail may be attached to the boat via a combination of mast, spars and ropes.
  2. (nautical,uncountable) The concept of a sail or sails, as if a substance.
    Take in sail: a storm is coming.
  3. (uncountable) The power harnessed by a sail or sails, or the use this power for travel or transport.
  4. A trip in a boat, especially a sailboat.
    Let's go for a sail.
  5. (dated, plural "sail") A sailing vessel; a vessel of any kind; a craft.
    Twenty sail were in sight.
  6. The blade of a windmill.
  7. A tower-like structure found on the dorsal (topside) surface of submarines.
  8. The floating organ of siphonophores, such as the Portuguese man-of-war.
  9. (fishing) A sailfish.
    We caught three sails today.
  10. (paleontology) an outward projection of the spine, occurring in certain dinosaurs and synapsids
  11. Anything resembling a sail, such as a wing.
    • Spenser
      Like an eagle soaring / To weather his broad sails.
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Terms derived from sail (noun)
Translations
sailfish — see sailfish
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2

From Middle English sailen, saylen, seilen, seilien, from Old English seġlian (“to sail”), from Proto-Germanic *seglōną, *siglijaną (“to sail”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian sailje (“to sail”), German Low German seilen (“to sail”), Dutch zeilen (“to sail”), German segeln (“to sail”), Danish sejle (“to sail”), Swedish segla (“to sail”), Norwegian Bokmål segle (“to sail”), Icelandic - and Norwegian Nynorsk sigla (“to sail”).

Verb

sail (third-person singular simple present sails, present participle sailing, simple past and past participle sailed)

  1. 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 steam or other power.
  2. To move through or on the water; to swim, as a fish or a waterfowl.
  3. To ride in a boat, especially a sailboat.
  4. To set sail; to begin a voyage.
    We sail for Australia tomorrow.
  5. To move briskly and gracefully through the air.
    • Shakespeare
      As is a winged messenger of heaven, […] / When he bestrides the lazy pacing clouds, / And sails upon the bosom of the air.
    • 2002 March 20, Kazuki Takahashi, Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories (PlayStation video game, North American version), Konami:
      [flavor text of the card "Spirit of the Winds"]
      A spirit of the wind that freely sails the skies.
    • 2011 April 15, Saj Chowdhury, “Norwich 2 - 1 Nott'm Forest”, in BBC Sport‎:
      A hopeful ball from Forest right-back Brendan Moloney to the left edge of the area was met first by Ruddy but his attempted clearance rebounded off Tyson's leg and sailed in.
  6. To move briskly.
    The duchess sailed haughtily out of the room.
Derived terms
Translations

Anagrams

Basque

Noun

sail

  1. area

Irish

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old Irish sal.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /salʲ/

Noun

sail f (genitive singular saile)

  1. dirt, dross, impurity
    sail mhiotail ― metal dross
  2. stain, defilement
    sail pheaca ― the stain of sin

Declension
Declension of sail

Second declension

Bare forms (no plural form of this noun)

Case Singular
Nominative sail
Vocative a shail
Genitive saile
Dative sail

Forms with the definite article

Case Singular
Nominative an tsail
Genitive na saile
Dative leis an tsail

don tsail

Derived terms

Mutation
Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
sail shail
after an, tsail		 not applicable
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading
  • “sal” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.
  • “sal” in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, Irish Texts Society, 1st ed., 1904, by Patrick S. Dinneen, page 589.
  • "sail" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
  • Entries containing “sail” in New English-Irish Dictionary by Foras na Gaeilge.

Volapük

Noun

sail (plural sails)

  1. (nautical) sail

Declension
declension of sail
singular plural
nominative sail sails
genitive saila sailas
dative saile sailes
accusative saili sailis
vocative 1 o sail! o sails!
predicative 2 sailu sailus
  • 1 status as a case is disputed
  • 2 in some later, non-classical Volapük only

Derived terms
  • sailan
  • sailön
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