Definition of "reef" []

• A strip or ridge of rocks, sand, or coral that rises to or near the surface of a body of water. (noun)
• A vein of ore. (noun)
• A portion of a sail rolled and tied down to lessen the area exposed to the wind. (noun)
• To reduce the size of (a sail) by tucking in a part and tying it to or rolling it around a yard. (verb-transitive)
• To shorten (a topmast or bowsprit) by taking part of it in. (verb-transitive)

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.

• "Finding we could not weather the reef, and that _it was too late had it been in our power to give any assistance_; and still fearing that we might be embayed or entangled by the supposed chain or patches; all therefore that remained for us to do was either by dint of carrying sail to weather the reef to the southward, (meaning the Cato's Bank,) or, if failing in that, to push to leeward and endeavour to find a passage through the _patches of reef_ to the northward."
• "I think better access to this reef is a little north of the hotel."
• "Fishing on the reef is only a rich man's pleasure."