Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Nautical, a sail set above a skysail. Also called
moon-raker .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Naut.) A sail sometimes carried in light winds, above a skysail.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun nautical A
moonraker (sail).
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
-
The square sails on the mainmast are called, when eight are carried, the mainsail, lower and upper maintopsails, lower and upper maintopgallants, main-royal, main-skysail, and the moonsail.
All Afloat A Chronicle of Craft and Waterways William Charles Henry Wood 1905
chained_bear commented on the word moonsail
"...in her character as a prudent merchantman she had no royal masts above her stump topgallants, and they could hardly be sent up man-of-war fashion without exciting suspicion; nor could royals, skysails, moonsails, stargazers and other flying-kites, all very useful in these mere zephyrs, where the higher air moved somewhat faster than that just over the sea."
--Patrick O'Brian, The Reverse of the Medal, 92
February 24, 2008