• IPA: /seɪl/, [seɪ̯ɫ]

From Middle English saile, sayle, seil, seyl, from Old English seġl, from Proto-West Germanic *segl, from Proto-Germanic *seglą.

sail

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.

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 dinosaur and synapsid
12. Anything resembling a sail, such as a wing.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC ↗, stanza 42:

      Like an eagle […] soaring / / To weather his broad sails.

• French: voile
• German: Segel
• Italian: vela
• Portuguese: vela
• Russian: па́рус
• Spanish: vela

• French: voile

• French: balade en mer, balade en voilier
• German: Törn
• Portuguese: velejada

• French: aile
• German: Windmühlenflügel
• Italian: pala
• Portuguese: pá
• Russian: крыло́
• Spanish: aspa

• French: kiosque, massif
• German: Turm
• Italian: vela
• Russian: боевая рубка

• French: flotteur, pneumatophore
• Portuguese: crista
• Russian: па́рус

From Middle English sailen, saylen, seilen, seilien, from Old English seġlan, siġlan, from Proto-West Germanic *siglijan, from *siglijaną.

sail (sails, present participle sailing; simple past and past participle sailed)

1. 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.
   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC ↗, Canto IX:

     Fair ship, that from the Italian shore,
     ⁠Sailest the placid ocean-plains
     ⁠With my lost Arthur’s loved remains,
     Spread thy full wings, and waft him o’er.

2. To move through or on the water; to swim, as a fish or a waterfowl.
3. To ride in a boat, especially a sailboat.
4. (intransitive) To set sail; to begin a voyage.

   We sail for Australia tomorrow.

5. 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.

6. (intransitive) To move briskly but sedately.

   The duchess sailed haughtily out of the room.

7. (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.

• French: (intransitive) voguer, (transitive) gouverner, faire du bateau, faire de la voile, naviguer
• German: segeln
• Italian: navigare a vela, veleggiare, condurre
• Portuguese: velejar
• Russian: плыть под парусами
• Spanish: navegar

• French: voler
• German: segeln, gleiten
• Italian: veleggiare
• Portuguese: deslizar

• German: segeln, schweben

sail (plural sails)

1. Acronym of snow avalanche impact landform