sail

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To travel across water in a boat or ship.

   The ship will sail to Southampton tomorrow.

2. 2
   verb

   To control a boat that moves using the wind.

   I love sailing, especially on the open sea.

3. 3
   noun

   A large piece of strong cloth fixed to a boat so the wind can push it along.

   They raised the sail and the boat picked up speed.

From Middle English sailen, saylen, seilen, seilien, from Old English seġlan, siġlan (“to sail”), from Proto-West Germanic *siglijan, from *siglijaną. Cognate with West Frisian sile, Low German seilen, Dutch zeilen, German segeln, Danish sejle, Swedish segla, Icelandic sigla.

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