Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A small square sail above the royal in a square-rigged vessel.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A light sail in a square-rigged vessel, next above the royal. It is sometimes called a skyscraper when it is triangular, also a sky-gazer. See cut under ship.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Naut.) The sail set next above the royal. See
Illust. under sail.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the sail above the royal on a square-rigger
Etymologies
- sky + sail? (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The order was given to loose the main-skysail, which is the fifth and highest sail from deck.”
“So close were we that I looked to see our far-reeling skysail-yards strike the face of the rock.”
“As it was, they cut away the remnants of the mizzen-lower-topsail with their sheath-knives, and they loosed the main-skysail out of its bolt-ropes.”
“Poor Sundry Buyers continually pressed his abdomen as he toiled around the deck-capstans; and never was Nancy's face quite so forlorn as when he obeyed the Maltese Cockney's command and went up to loose the mizzen-skysail.”
“Mr. Pike sent look-outs aloft to every skysail-yard, and the Elsinore slipped along through the smooth sea.”
“He had picked up some of the names, but he had no idea which sail the mizzen skysail was, nor the fore topgallant.”
“In order if possible to get a little more way on the ship, a studding-sail and a skysail were rigged up with two awnings; it did not increase our speed very much, but no doubt it helped a little.”
The South Pole; an account of the Norwegian antarctic expedition in the 'Fram', 1910 to 1912
“A dash of the same brine will help keep the ballast right, then a skysail-yard breakfast must be carefully stowed away, in order to give a firmness to the timbers, and on the strength of these two blocks for shoring up the hull, you must begin little by little, and keep on brightening up until you have got the craft all right again.”
“Above the courses come the lower topsails, above them the upper topsails, above them the lower topgallant-sails, then the upper topgallant-sails, then the royals, and, on the mainmast, the skysail, though sometimes there are skysails to all masts, and over the main skysail comes a "scraper" or moon-raker.”
“These braces come down to the ship's sides, or to the heads of the masts fore and aft of those on which the yard is swung; all the mizzen-braces working on the mainmast; the maintopgallant, mainroyal and skysail braces working on the mizzenmast; and the foretopgallant and foreroyal braces working on the mainmast, as is clearly shown in our illustration.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘skysail’.
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phrontistery-s
from phrontistery.info
sabaton, sabbatarian, sabbulonarium, sabelline, sabin, sable, sabliere, sabot, sabretache, sabulous, saburration, saccade and 1593 more...
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Nautical Words
lubber, mizzenmast, circumnavigation, clipper, cordage, galleon, gangplank, gangway, flying bridge, following sea, schooner, amidships and 106 more...
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The Aubrey/Maturin List I'm Gonna Mak...
I'm wading through Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels one by one, and someday, I'll wade through them again and list all the words I learned while reading them.
Edit: I started ma...studdingsail, carronade, mumchance, grumlin-futtocks, crosscat-harpings, holystone, sennit, orlop, orchitis, negus, kevel, altumal and 1112 more...
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and Bristol fashion
being items related to boats, ships, sailing, nautical and naval lore &c.
sloop, frigate, brigantine, brig, grog, schooner, rig, sail, canvas, jib, forestay, cutter and 150 more...
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Exquisite.
Words to my liking. (The most lovelybeautifulintricatecondecendinggratuitous.)
unequivocally, destitute, prudent, sagacious, circumspect, discreet, rash, forethought, evince, judicious, shrewd, extravagant and 227 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for skysail.

chained_bear See usage note on moonsail. Feb 24, 2008