Meaning of "sail" in the English dictionary

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD SAIL

Old English segl; related to Old Frisian seil, Old Norse segl, German Segel.

Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.

PRONUNCIATION OF SAIL

sail  [seɪl]

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF SAIL

Sail is a verb and can also act as a noun.

A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

The verb is the part of the sentence that is conjugated and expresses action and state of being.

See the conjugation of the verb sail in English.

WHAT DOES SAIL MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Sail

A sail is a surface, typically made of fabric and supported by a mast, whose purpose is to propel a sailing vessel. Occasionally sails may also be found on land vehicles.

Definition of sail in the English dictionary

The first definition of sail in the dictionary is an area of fabric, usually Terylene or nylon, with fittings for holding it in any suitable position to catch the wind, used for propelling certain kinds of vessels, esp over water. Other definition of sail is a voyage on such a vessel. Sail is also a vessel with sails or such vessels collectively.

CONJUGATION OF THE VERB TO SAIL

PRESENT

Present

I sail

you sail

he/she/it sails

we sail

you sail

they sail

Present continuous

I am sailing

you are sailing

he/she/it is sailing

we are sailing

you are sailing

they are sailing

Present perfect

I have sailed

you have sailed

he/she/it has sailed

we have sailed

you have sailed

they have sailed

Present perfect continuous

I have been sailing

you have been sailing

he/she/it has been sailing

we have been sailing

you have been sailing

they have been sailing

Present tense is used to refer to circumstances that exist at the present time or over a period that includes the present time. The present perfect refers to past events, although it can be considered to denote primarily the resulting present situation rather than the events themselves.

PAST

Past

I sailed

you sailed

he/she/it sailed

we sailed

you sailed

they sailed

Past continuous

I was sailing

you were sailing

he/she/it was sailing

we were sailing

you were sailing

they were sailing

Past perfect

I had sailed

you had sailed

he/she/it had sailed

we had sailed

you had sailed

they had sailed

Past perfect continuous

I had been sailing

you had been sailing

he/she/it had been sailing

we had been sailing

you had been sailing

they had been sailing

Past tense forms express circumstances existing at some time in the past,

FUTURE

Future

I will sail

you will sail

he/she/it will sail

we will sail

you will sail

they will sail

Future continuous

I will be sailing

you will be sailing

he/she/it will be sailing

we will be sailing

you will be sailing

they will be sailing

Future perfect

I will have sailed

you will have sailed

he/she/it will have sailed

we will have sailed

you will have sailed

they will have sailed

Future perfect continuous

I will have been sailing

you will have been sailing

he/she/it will have been sailing

we will have been sailing

you will have been sailing

they will have been sailing

The future is used to express circumstances that will occur at a later time.

CONDITIONAL

Conditional

I would sail

you would sail

he/she/it would sail

we would sail

you would sail

they would sail

Conditional continuous

I would be sailing

you would be sailing

he/she/it would be sailing

we would be sailing

you would be sailing

they would be sailing

Conditional perfect

I would have sail

you would have sail

he/she/it would have sail

we would have sail

you would have sail

they would have sail

Conditional perfect continuous

I would have been sailing

you would have been sailing

he/she/it would have been sailing

we would have been sailing

you would have been sailing

they would have been sailing

Conditional or "future-in-the-past" tense refers to hypothetical or possible actions.

IMPERATIVE

Imperative

you sail
we let´s sail
you sail

The imperative is used to form commands or requests.

NONFINITE VERB FORMS

Infinitive

to sail

Past participle

sailed

Present Participle

sailing

Infinitive shows the action beyond temporal perspective. The present participle or gerund shows the action during the session. The past participle shows the action after completion.

SYNONYMS OF «SAIL»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «sail» and belong to the same grammatical category.

synonyms of sail

canvas · captain · cruise · drift · embark · float · fly · glide · helm · navigate · pilot · put off · put to sea · scud · set sail · sheet · shoot · skim · skipper · skirr · soar · steer · sweep · voyage · wing

TRANSLATION OF SAIL

Find out the translation of sail to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.

The translations of sail from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «sail» in English.

• Translator English - Chinese: 帆
• Translator English - Spanish: vela
• English: sail
• Translator English - Hindi: स्टील अथॉरिटी ऑफ इंडिया
• Translator English - Arabic: شِرَاع
• Translator English - Russian: парус
• Translator English - Portuguese: vela
• Translator English - Bengali: পাল
• Translator English - French: voile
• Translator English - Malay: Belayar
• Translator English - German: Segel
• Translator English - Japanese: 帆
• Translator English - Korean: 돛
• Translator English - Javanese: Sail
• Translator English - Vietnamese: cánh buồm
• Translator English - Tamil: புறப்பட்டது
• Translator English - Marathi: जहाज
• Translator English - Turkish: yelken
• Translator English - Italian: vela
• Translator English - Polish: żagiel
• Translator English - Ukrainian: вітрило
• Translator English - Romanian: velă
• Translator English - Greek: πανί
• Translator English - Afrikaans: vaar
• Translator English - Swedish: segel
• Translator English - Norwegian: seil

10 QUOTES WITH «SAIL»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word sail.

1

William Alexander

The white sail of his soul has rounded the promontory - death.

2

Neil Armstrong

Gliders, sail planes, they're wonderful flying machines. It's the closest you can come to being a bird.

3

Ami Ayalon

Once we agree on the future, the present will be much easier. A captain who does not know where he wants to sail, there is no wind on Earth that will bring him there. We have first to decide where we want to go, where we want to sail.

4

Ami Ayalon

A captain who does not know where he wants to sail, there is no wind on Earth that will bring him there.

5

Robert Bork

It is a ship with a great deal of sail but a very shallow keel.

6

John Calvin

Seeing that a Pilot steers the ship in which we sail, who will never allow us to perish even in the midst of shipwrecks, there is no reason why our minds should be overwhelmed with fear and overcome with weariness.

7

Billy Campbell

I sailed a bit as a child, but it wasn't until I was around 40, when I was halfway through Patrick O'Brian's 'Master and Commander' novels, that I had the sudden epiphany that I had to go sail on a square-rig ship.

8

Thomas Campion

Never weather-beaten sail more willing bent to shore.

9

Clayton Christensen

I promise my students that if they take the time to figure out their life purpose, they'll look back on it as the most important thing they discovered while at school. If they don't figure it out, they will just sail off without a rudder and get buffeted in the very rough seas of life.

10

Bernard Cornwell

What I mean by that is that the point of life, as I see it, is not to write books or scale mountains or sail oceans, but to achieve happiness, and preferably an unselfish happiness.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «SAIL»

Discover the use of sail in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to sail and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.

Sail

But only an hour out of port, everything is going wrong. The teenage daughter, Carrie, is planning to drown herself. The teenage son, Mark, is high on drugs and ten-year-old Ernie is nearly catatonic. This is the worst vacation ever.

James Patterson, Howard Roughan, 2008

A Manual of Sail Trim

A guide for racing covers the principles of sail trim, crew movement techniques, maneuvers, and control systems, and gives advice on adjusting to special conditions.

Stuart H. Walker, 1985

Reversing Sail: A History of the African Diaspora

This book examines the global unfolding of the African Diaspora, the migrations and dispersals of people of African, from antiquity to the modern period.

Michael A. Gomez, 2005

Seamanship in the Age of Sail: An Account of the ...

Explains exactly how ninteenth-century sailing ships were controlled and discusses rigging, sails, steering, tacking, storms, and emergency procedures

John H. Harland, 1984

Sail Away, Little Boat

A toy sailboat encounters a variety of animals as it journeys down a brook, to the river, and finally to the ocean.

Janet Buell, 2004

Little Rat Sets Sail

It's time for Little Rat to start sailing lessons.

Monika Bang-Campbell, 2003

Sail

When their sailboat sinks following a storm in the Bahamas, the Silva family takes refuge on a raft and must survive until they are rescued.

Saddleback Educational Publishing, Mary Kate Doman, 2011

Death Under Sail

Roger Mills, a Harley Street specialist, is taking a sailing holiday on the Norfolk Broads.

C. P. Snow, 2000

Adventures at Sea in the Great Age of Sail: Five Firsthand ...

James Cook was killed, encounters with savage natives in the South Seas and more. A vivid picture of life aboard the "tall ships" of a century and more ago.

Elliot Snow, 2011

Yachtmaster Exercises for Sail and Power: Questions and ...

This companion volume to Yachtmaster for Sail and Power, by the same author, provides further navigation practice for anyone studying for the RYA Yachtmaster syllabus and for Day Skipper.

Alison Noice, 2010

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «SAIL»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term sail is used in the context of the following news items.

Carnival could set sail to Cuba next year

"We have no idea how long it is going to take; we assume we are going to be successful and be able to sail in May." Travelers can start booking trips now for the ... «CNNMoney, Jul 15»

Styx's 'Come Sail Away' Helps Homeless Musician Get a Second …

The latest classic rock-related viral video making the rounds is of a homeless man in Sarasota, Fla., playing the opening passage of Styx's “Come Sail Away” on ... «Ultimate Classic Rock, Jul 15»

Watch: Homeless Piano Man Nails 'Come Sail Away'

That becomes evident the minute the 51-year-old former Marine sits down at a piano and begins to tickle the ivories. As the soulful strains of Styx's “Come Sail ... «Patch.com, Jul 15»

LightSail Satellite Sends Solar Sail Selfie

Two days after the LightSail spacecraft started spreading its experimental solar sail, the Planetary Society unveiled an orbital selfie showing the sail sections ... «NBCNews.com, Jun 15»

At Last, Bill Nye's LightSail Deploys Its Solar Sails In Space

LightSail has finally seen the light. After a tumultuous time in lower Earth orbit, the Planetary Society's solar sail spacecraft has at last deployed its namesake: ... «Popular Science, Jun 15»

'It's Alive!' LightSail Solar Sail Reboots Itself After Orbital Glitch

After eight days of uneasy silence, the LightSail solar sail experiment rebooted itself to recover from a software glitch in orbit, the Planetary Society said Saturday ... «NBCNews.com, May 15»

Blasting Off Today: A Satellite That Sails on Sunbeams

The CubeSat in question, called LightSail A, comes from a Planetary Society project, funded by the crowd. If successful, solar sails could lead to more missions ... «Wired, May 15»

Bengal focus in SAIL expansion: Tomar

Incidentally, SAIL has almost completed the Rs 16,400-crore expansion of Iisco that was started in 2006 as part of its modernization. Chief minister Mamata ... «Times of India, May 15»

Carl Sagan's Solar Sail Is Ready For Its First Test Flight

“There's just a tremendously exciting prospect called solar sailing. [It] travels on the radiation and particles that come out of the sun, the wind from the sun. «Gizmodo, May 15»

'Lafayette's warship' sets sail from France to remember assistance in …

A replica of the warship that carried France's Marquis de Lafayette to help American colonists in their war of independence sets sail for the United States on ... «Telegraph.co.uk, Apr 15»