Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of several types of small, light sailing ships, especially one with two to four masts and lateen sails used by the Spanish and Portuguese in the 1400s and 1500s.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Nautical, the name of several kinds of vessels.
  • noun The floating marine gastropod Ianthina.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The caravel of the 16th century was a small vessel with broad bows, high, narrow poop, four masts, and lateen sails. .
  • noun A Portuguese vessel of 100 or 150 tons burden.
  • noun A small fishing boat used on the French coast.
  • noun A Turkish man-of-war.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun nautical A light, usually lateen-rigged sailing ship used by the Portuguese, as well as Spanish, for about 300 years, beginning in the fifteenth century, first for trade and later for voyages of exploration

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French caravelle, from Old French, from Old Portuguese caravela, diminutive of cáravo, ship, from Late Latin cārabus, a small wicker boat, from Late Greek kārabos, light ship, from Greek, horned beetle.]

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Examples

  • That the word caravel was intended to signify a vessel of a small size is evident from a naval classification made by king Alonzo in the middle of the thirteenth century.

    The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus Irving, Washington, 1783-1859 1892

  • That the word caravel was intended to signify a vessel of a small size is evident from a naval classification made by king Alonzo in the middle of the thirteenth century.

    The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (Volume II) Washington Irving 1821

  • The base AC to shoot a caravel is -3 because it’s just a big ass object really (value taken from Stormwrack), or AC3 if you want to shoot at a specific section.

    Cannon for Pathfinder « Geek Related 2009

  • It was a type of vessel known as a caravel, and no one knows exactly what they looked like or how they were built.

    Books: Columbus's Last Voyage 2006

  • A caravel was a small, roundish, stubby sort of craft, galley-rigged, with a double tower at the stern and a single one in the bow.

    Christopher Columbus Mildred Stapley Byne

  • She sailed in an age of Titans, while the caravel was a frolicksome pygmy, dancing to the music of a thousand winds, buffeted today, becalmed tomorrow, but always a snail on the face of the waters.

    West Wind Drift George Barr McCutcheon 1897

  • And this fine was to lend the king and queen of Spain, for one year, without pay, two sailing vessels of the kind called caravel's, armed and equipped "for the service of the crown" -- that is, for the use of the king and queen of Spain, in the western voyage that Columbus was to make.

    The True Story of Christopher Columbus, Called the Great Admiral 1892

  • And this fine was to lend the king and queen of Spain, for one year, without pay, two sailing vessels of the kind called caravel's, armed and equipped "for the service of the crown" -- that is, for the use of the king and queen of

    The true story of Christopher Columbus, called the Great Admiral Elbridge Streeter Brooks 1874

  • They developed the "caravel", a small, lightweight ship with three lateen-sailed masts that could hold much more cargo than previous ships.

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] 2009

  • They developed the "caravel", a small, lightweight ship with three lateen-sailed masts that could hold much more cargo than previous ships.

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] 2009

Comments

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  • Not to be confused with the makers of cookiepuss and fudgie the whale and other ice-creamy delicacies.

    See also commingled.

    October 29, 2007

  • No, no, that's definitely Carvel. (To pronounce it correctly, I understand, you have to say it with a hoarse, husky voice.)

    October 29, 2007

  • Yes, and you must sound as though you've a) just woken up from a sound sleep, or b) had way too much vanilla flavoring to drink.

    October 29, 2007

  • I thought it was car-vull.

    February 22, 2011