Definition of "foresail" []

• Nautical The principal square sail hung to the foremast of a square-rigged vessel. (noun)
• Nautical The principal triangular sail hung to the mast of a fore-and-aft-rigged vessel. (noun)
• Nautical The triangular sail hung to the forestay of a cutter or sloop. (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.

• "The awful volume of sound given out by the fierce, headlong swoop of the wind as it bore down upon us quite prepared me to see both masts blown clean out of the schooner; but all her gear fortunately happened to be sound and good, and the loss of the foresail was the full extent of the damage sustained by us."
• "The foresail was a large one, and it almost becalmed the jib."
• "In the morning we set our foresail, meaning to bear up to the northward, standing off and on to keep away from the current, which otherwise would have set us to the south, away from, all known land."