reef
see also: Reef
Pronunciation Etymology 1
Reef
Etymology
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003
see also: Reef
Pronunciation Etymology 1
From earlier riff, from Middle English rif, from Old Norse rif, from Proto-Germanic *ribją, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rebʰ-.
Nounreef (plural reefs)
- A chain or range of rocks, sand, or coral lying at or near the surface of the water.
- (Australia, South Africa) A large vein of auriferous quartz; hence, any body of rock yielding valuable ore.
- French: écueil, récif
- German: Riff, Felsenriff
- Italian: scogliera, barriera
- Portuguese: recife, arrecife, (Portugal) restinga
- Russian: риф
- Spanish: arrecife
From Middle English reef, from Old Norse rif, Middle Dutch rif, rēve, and/or Middle Low German ref.
Nounreef (plural reefs)
- (nautical) A portion of a sail rolled and tied down to lessen the area exposed in a high wind.
- A reef knot.
reef (reefs, present participle reefing; simple past and past participle reefed)
- (nautical) To take in part of a sail in order to adapt the size of the sail to the force of the wind.
- 1970 July–December, Margaret Quilty, Roller Reefing Made Easy, Boating, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=76an4_5iF7EC&pg=PA63&dq=%22reefed%22|%22reefing%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=SUsBUKLQBOq5iQff89iXCA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22reefed%22|%22reefing%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false page 63],
- Be sure the blocks are securely mounted—they carry a fairish load when the sail is reefed.
- If both reefing line and main halyard are led to the cockpit, even singlehanded reefing is a breeze.
- 1970 July–December, Margaret Quilty, Roller Reefing Made Easy, Boating, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=76an4_5iF7EC&pg=PA63&dq=%22reefed%22|%22reefing%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=SUsBUKLQBOq5iQff89iXCA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22reefed%22|%22reefing%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false page 63],
- (Australian) To pull or yank strongly, especially in relation to horse riding.
- (nautical, of paddles) To move the floats of a paddle wheel toward its center so that they will not dip so deeply.
- Reef the paddles.
- (slang) To manipulate the lining of a person's pocket in order to steal the contents unnoticed.
- Myron M. Stearns, So You Lost Your Pocketbook?, in 1940, The Rotarian (volume 56, number 2, page 39)
- This was done by "reefing." He put two fingers just inside the opening and lifted the lining a trifle. Although I watched his hands, I could feel nothing, so gently did his fingers work. Reefing a couple of times, he lifted my handkerchief, as he might have taken out anything else.
- Myron M. Stearns, So You Lost Your Pocketbook?, in 1940, The Rotarian (volume 56, number 2, page 39)
- French: prendre un ris, arriser
- German: reffen
- Italian: terzarolare
- Spanish: tomar rizos
From Middle English ref, hreof, from Old English hrēof, from Proto-Germanic *hreubaz, from Proto-Indo-European *kreup-, related to Old English hrēofla.
Adjectivereef (comparative reefer, superlative reefest)
Synonyms- See also Thesaurus:scabby
reef (plural reefs)
Reef
Etymology
Borrowed from North German Reef, possibly related to Reep, or otherwise from obsolete rif (from Proto-West Germanic *hrif).
Proper nounThis text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003
