spanker

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a fore-and-aft sail set on or behind the mast nearest the stern of a square-rigged ship, or the corresponding aftermost sail of a large schooner

   The crew trimmed the spanker as the ship turned across the wind.

The nautical noun is first recorded in the late eighteenth century, but its origin is unknown. Although it resembles the transparent agent noun formed from spank + -er, major dictionaries do not securely derive the sail name from that verb.

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