Reef

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language

·noun A large vein of auriferous quartz;

— so called in Australia. Hence, any body of rock yielding valuable ore.

II. Reef ·noun A chain or range of rocks lying at or near the surface of the water. ·see Coral reefs, under Coral.

III. Reef ·vt To reduce the extent of (as a sail) by roiling or folding a certain portion of it and making it fast to the yard or spar.

IV. Reef ·vt That part of a sail which is taken in or let out by means of the reef points, in order to adapt the size of the sail to the force of the wind.

Related Words

reef
I. n. term in gold-mining; a vein ofauriferous quartz. Called by the Californian miners a vein, or...

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris
reef
A certain portion of a sail comprehended between the head of a sail and any of the reef-bands. The i...

The Sailor's Word-Book
Reef-band
·noun A piece of canvas sewed across a sail to strengthen it in the part where the eyelet holes for ...

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
bag-reef
A fourth or lower reef of fore-and-aft sails, often used in the royal navy. ♦ Bag-reef of top-sail...

The Sailor's Word-Book
balance-reef
A reef-band that crosses a sail from the outer head-earing to the tack diagonally, making it nearly ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
reef-band
A narrow band of canvas sewed on the reef-line to support the strain of the reef-points. It is pierc...

The Sailor's Word-Book
reef-cringles
See cringle. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
reef-earings
See earings. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
reef-knot
Is one in which the ends fall always in a line with the outer parts; in fact, two loops, easy to unt...

The Sailor's Word-Book
reef-line
Casual aids in bad weather to help the men at the earings. When the vessel was going free, and the s...

The Sailor's Word-Book
reef-pendant
A rope going through a cringle in the after-leech of a boom main-sail, and through a check sheave-ho...

The Sailor's Word-Book
reef-points
Small flat pieces of plaited cordage or soft rope, tapering from the middle towards each end, whose ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
reef-tackles
, are indeed pendants and tackles. The pendant is rove through the sister-block, then a sheave in th...

The Sailor's Word-Book
shore reef
The same as fringing reef. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
spanish reef
The yards lowered on the cap. Also, a knot tied in the head of the jib. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
reef-tackle span
Two cringles in the bolt-rope, about a couple of feet apart, when a block is used. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
hands reef top-sails!
The order to reef by all hands, instead of the watch, or watch and idlers. ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
shake out, a reef, to
See let out, a reef, to ...

The Sailor's Word-Book
let out, a reef, to
, or shake out, a reef, to To increase the dimensions of a sail, by untying the points confining a...

The Sailor's Word-Book