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Square sail   /skwɛr seɪl/   Listen
adjective
Square  adj.  
1.
(Geom.) Having four equal sides and four right angles; as, a square figure.
2.
Forming a right angle; as, a square corner.
3.
Having a shape broad for the height, with rectilineal and angular rather than curving outlines; as, a man of a square frame.
4.
Exactly suitable or correspondent; true; just. "She's a most triumphant lady, if report be square to her."
5.
Rendering equal justice; exact; fair; honest; as, square dealing.
6.
Even; leaving no balance; as, to make or leave the accounts square.
7.
Leaving nothing; hearty; vigorous. "By Heaven, square eaters. More meat, I say."
8.
(Naut.) At right angles with the mast or the keel, and parallel to the horizon; said of the yards of a square-rigged vessel when they are so braced. Note: Square is often used in self-explaining compounds or combinations, as in square-built, square-cornered, square-cut, square-nosed, etc.
Square foot, an area equal to that of a square the sides of which are twelve inches; 144 square inches.
Square knot, a knot in which the terminal and standing parts are parallel to each other; a reef knot.
Square measure, the measure of a superficies or surface which depends on the length and breadth taken conjointly. The units of square measure are squares whose sides are the linear measures; as, square inches, square feet, square meters, etc.
Square number. See Square, n., 6.
Square root of a number or Square root of a quantity (Math.), that number or quantity which, multiplied by itself, produces the given number or quantity.
Square sail (Naut.), a four-sided sail extended upon a yard suspended by the middle; sometimes, the foresail of a schooner set upon a yard; also, a cutter's or sloop's sail boomed out.
Square stern (Naut.), a stern having a transom and joining the counter timbers at an angle, as distinguished from a round stern, which has no transom.
Three-square, Five-square, etc., having three, five, etc., equal sides; as, a three-square file.
To get square with, to get even with; to pay off. (Colloq.)






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Square sail" Quotes from Famous Books



... a regular sailor, as I said before, but I got out on the yard, and cut the square sail loose and let it drop on the deck, and I let the jib come down on a run, and managed to bundle it up some way on the bowsprit. This sort of thing took all the nautical gymnastics that I was master of, and entirely occupied my mind, so that I found myself whistling while I worked. I hoped ...
— The Rudder Grangers Abroad and Other Stories • Frank R. Stockton

... caught a sudden human interest in some gracefully modelled canoe gliding out with a crew of Chinook Indians from the shadow of a giant promontory, propelled by a square sail learned of the whites. Knowing the natural, ingrained laziness of Indians, one can imagine the delight with which they comprehended that substitute for the paddle. After all, this may perhaps be an ill-natured thing ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 86, December, 1864 • Various

... the smart little steamer of the Government Railways, my companion spoke of the extent to which sea-faring men, a conservative class, had abandoned the use of the single square sail which one sees in Japanese prints; the little vessels had been re-rigged in Western fashion. But many superstitions had survived the abolished square sails. The mother of my fellow-traveller once told him ...
— The Foundations of Japan • J.W. Robertson Scott

... protected by a chain of islands, the skjaergaard, both travel and commerce are carried on by means of small open boats. The fjord rowboats, as a rule, are light and pointed, with upright and high prow, and they carry a square sail. They are light to row, and they go capitally before the wind. There is an extensive government posting system on the coasts, fjords, and inland lakes, similar to that along the public highways already described. The tariff from fast stations for a four-oared boat and ...
— Norwegian Life • Ethlyn T. Clough

... bows a far-reaching area of snowy foam, while her wake was as wide as any two ordinary ships ought to make. Five or six times a day the flying East India or colonial-bound English ships, under every stitch of square sail, would appear as tiny specks on the horizon astern, come up with us, pass like a flash, and fade away ahead, going at least two knots to our one. I could not help feeling a bit home-sick and tired of my present ...
— The Cruise of the Cachalot - Round the World After Sperm Whales • Frank T. Bullen



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