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Definition of "spinnaker" [spin•na•ker]

  • A large triangular sail set on a spar that swings out opposite the mainsail, used on yachts when running before the wind. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "spinnaker" in a sentence
  • "Then she made him uncomfortable by hitting him several times in different parts of the body with a long spar which she called the spinnaker boom."
  • "It was in spinnaker, up mizzen, all sheets by the wind, and we were moving slowly ahead, heaving the lead and straining our eyes for the fixed red light on the ruined fort that would give us our bearings to anchorage."
  • "Now, the race starts so that we're going down wind which means those big colorful sails called a spinnaker are out in front."