Definitions
reduce (a sail) by taking in a reef
Word origin
From earlier riff, from Middle English rif, from Old Norse rif (“rib, reef”), from Proto-Germanic *ribją (“rib, reef”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rebʰ- (“arch, ceiling, cover”). Dutch rif (“reef”), Low German riff, reff (“reef”), German Riff (“reef, ledge”) are also borrowed from Old Norse. Doublet of rib.
Used in a sentence
“"When the day arrived that the boy was to be skipper, the weather was calm and fine, but he called all men to reef sails, so the ship had scarcely any sail on her."”
“Mains are made smaller by reefing. This can be done by rolling up the sail around the boom, or by the more traditional method of tying down a panel along the foot.”
“The reefing system for a mainsail must be designed to operate efficiently under adverse conditions and to provide proper sail shape when reefed.”
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Used as a crossword answer1 curated clues
01“Coral ridge”4 letters
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