Definition of "trysail" [try•sail]

• A small fore-and-aft sail hoisted abaft the foremast and mainmast in a storm to keep a ship's bow to 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.

• "The boat does not have a storm trysail, which is a small sail used in high winds to maintain control and keep the bow to the wind."
• ""Better rig that storm-trysail on the main, and a storm-jib," Grief said to the mate."
• "I pulled two of the tripping-lines, and two of the contraptions exploded into light and noise and at the same time ran automatically down the jigger-trysail-stays, and automatically fetched up at the ends of their lines."