Wiktionary

sail

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

English

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

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English saile, sayle, seil, seyl, from Old English seġl, from Proto-West Germanic *segl, from Proto-Germanic *seglą. Cognate with West Frisian seil, Low German Segel, Dutch zeil, German Segel, Danish sejl, Swedish segel.

Noun

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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.
    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
      When we haue laught to ſee the ſailes conceiue / And grow big bellied with the wanton winde; […]
  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 of 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.
    • 1945 May and June, Charles E. Lee, “The Penrhyn Railway and its Locomotives—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 142, text published 1848:
      " […] The quay is upwards of 1,000 feet in length, and capable of accommodating more than 100 sail of traders; and there are generally a considerable number of vessels of from 40 to 300 tons burden, from various parts of the world, waiting to receive their cargoes."
  6. (nautical) The conning tower of a submarine.
  7. The blade of a windmill.
  8. A tower-like structure found on the dorsal (topside) surface of submarines.
  9. The floating organ of siphonophores, such as the Portuguese man-of-war.
  10. (fishing) A sailfish.
    We caught three sails today.
  11. (paleontology) an outward projection of the spine, occurring in certain dinosaurs and synapsids
  12. Anything resembling a sail, such as a wing.
Hyponyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2

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From Middle English sailen, saylen, seilen, seilien, from Old English seġlan, siġlan (“to sail”), from Proto-West Germanic *siglijan, from *siglijaną. Cognate with West Frisian sile, Low German seilen, Dutch zeilen, German segeln, Danish sejle, Swedish segla, Icelandic sigla.

Verb

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

  2. 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.
  3. To move through or on the water; to swim, as a fish or a waterfowl.
  4. To ride in a boat, especially a sailboat.
  5. (intransitive) To set sail; to begin a voyage.
    We sail for Australia tomorrow.
  6. To move briskly and gracefully through the air.
    • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
      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[1]:
      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.
  7. (intransitive) To move briskly but sedately.
    The duchess sailed haughtily out of the room.
  8. (card games, transitive) To deal out (cards) from a distance by impelling them across a surface.
    • 2007, Johnny Hughes, Texas Poker Wisdom, page 22:
      He would sit his hat across the room, and we would sail cards into it.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Basque

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Romance, compare Old French seille.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sail inan

  1. plot (area or land)
    Synonym: alor
  2. scope, field
    Synonyms: arlo, alor
  3. department (subdivision of an organization)

Declension

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Declension of sail (inanimate, ending in consonant)
indefinite singular plural
absolutive sail saila sailak
ergative sailek sailak sailek
dative saili sailari sailei
genitive sailen sailaren sailen
comitative sailekin sailarekin sailekin
causative sailengatik sailarengatik sailengatik
benefactive sailentzat sailarentzat sailentzat
instrumental sailez sailaz sailez
inessive sailetan sailean sailetan
locative sailetako saileko sailetako
allative sailetara sailera sailetara
terminative sailetaraino saileraino sailetaraino
directive sailetarantz sailerantz sailetarantz
destinative sailetarako sailerako sailetarako
ablative sailetatik sailetik sailetatik
partitive sailik — —
prolative sailtzat — —

Derived terms

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Further reading

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  • “sail”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy], Euskaltzaindia
  • “sail”, in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia [General Basque Dictionary], Euskaltzaindia, 1987–2005

Dutch

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English sail. Doublet of zeil.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sail n (plural sails)

  1. (nautical) the fin or sail of a submarine
    Synonym: toren

Irish

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Old Irish sal, from Proto-Celtic *salā.

Noun

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sail f (genitive singular saile)

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

Alternative forms
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Derived terms
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Further reading

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Etymology 2

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From Old Irish sail, from Proto-Celtic *salixs (whence also Welsh helyg, Breton halegen), seemingly from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂el-ik-s or sl̥h₂-ik-s. Cognate with Latin salix, Old English sealh (English sallow), and Ancient Greek ἑλίκη (helíkē), which all mean "willow", but the forms are hard to unify. The history of the word therefore must involve borrowing, possibly involving pre-Indo-European languages.[1]

Noun

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sail f (genitive singular saileach, nominative plural saileacha)

  1. willow (any of various trees or shrubs in the genus Salix)
Declension
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Declension of sail

Fifth declension

Bare forms

Case Singular Plural
Nominative sail saileacha
Vocative a shail a shaileacha
Genitive saileach saileacha
Dative sail
sailigh (archaic, dialectal) 		saileacha

Forms with the definite article

Case Singular Plural
Nominative an tsail na saileacha
Genitive na saileach na saileacha
Dative leis an tsail
leis an tsailigh (archaic, dialectal)

don tsail
don tsailigh (archaic, dialectal)

leis na saileacha

Variant declension:

Declension of sail

Fifth declension

Bare forms

Case Singular Plural
Nominative sail salacha
Vocative a shail a shalacha
Genitive salach salacha
Dative sail
salaigh (archaic, dialectal) 		salacha

Forms with the definite article

Case Singular Plural
Nominative an tsail na salacha
Genitive na salach na salacha
Dative leis an tsail
leis an tsalaigh (archaic, dialectal)

don tsail
don tsalaigh (archaic, dialectal)

leis na salacha
Derived terms
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References

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  1. ^ Matasović, Ranko (2009) “*salik-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN

Further reading

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Mutation

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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.

Portuguese

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Etymology

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Alteration of saim.[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sail m (uncountable)

  1. Alternative form of saim (“fish oil”)

References

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  1. ^ “sail”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2024

Volapük

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Noun

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sail (nominative plural sails)

  1. (nautical) sail

Declension

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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 later, non-classical Volapük only

Derived terms

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Welsh

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Etymology

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From Middle Welsh seil, from Proto-Brythonic *söl, from Latin solea (“sole”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sail f (plural seiliau, not mutable)

  1. base, basis, foundation
    Synonyms: bas, sawd, sylfaen

Derived terms

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Further reading

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  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “sail”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
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