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1. WordNet® 3.0 (2006)
sail
    n 1: a large piece of fabric (usually canvas fabric) by means of
         which wind is used to propel a sailing vessel [syn: sail,
         canvas, canvass, sheet]
    2: an ocean trip taken for pleasure [syn: cruise, sail]
    3: any structure that resembles a sail
    v 1: traverse or travel on (a body of water); "We sailed the
         Atlantic"; "He sailed the Pacific all alone"
    2: move with sweeping, effortless, gliding motions; "The diva
       swept into the room"; "Shreds of paper sailed through the
       air"; "The searchlights swept across the sky" [syn: sweep,
       sail]
    3: travel on water propelled by wind; "I love sailing,
       especially on the open sea"; "the ship sails on"
    4: travel on water propelled by wind or by other means; "The QE2
       will sail to Southampton tomorrow" [syn: voyage, sail,
       navigate]

2. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Sail \Sail\, n. [OE. seil, AS. segel, segl; akin to D. zeil,
   OHG. segal, G. & Sw. segel, Icel. segl, Dan. seil. [root]
   153.]
   1. An extent of canvas or other fabric by means of which the
      wind is made serviceable as a power for propelling vessels
      through the water.
      [1913 Webster]

            Behoves him now both sail and oar.    --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Anything resembling a sail, or regarded as a sail.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. A wing; a van. [Poetic]
      [1913 Webster]

            Like an eagle soaring
            To weather his broad sails.           --Spenser.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. The extended surface of the arm of a windmill.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. A sailing vessel; a vessel of any kind; a craft.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: In this sense, the plural has usually the same form as
         the singular; as, twenty sail were in sight.
         [1913 Webster]

   6. A passage by a sailing vessel; a journey or excursion upon
      the water.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: Sails are of two general kinds, fore-and-aft sails,
         and square sails. Square sails are always bent to
         yards, with their foot lying across the line of the
         vessel. Fore-and-aft sails are set upon stays or gaffs
         with their foot in line with the keel. A fore-and-aft
         sail is triangular, or quadrilateral with the after
         leech longer than the fore leech. Square sails are
         quadrilateral, but not necessarily square. See Phrases
         under Fore, a., and Square, a.; also, Bark,
         Brig, Schooner, Ship, Stay.
         [1913 Webster]

   Sail burton (Naut.), a purchase for hoisting sails aloft
      for bending.

   Sail fluke (Zool.), the whiff.

   Sail hook, a small hook used in making sails, to hold the
      seams square.

   Sail loft, a loft or room where sails are cut out and made.
      

   Sail room (Naut.), a room in a vessel where sails are
      stowed when not in use.

   Sail yard (Naut.), the yard or spar on which a sail is
      extended.

   Shoulder-of-mutton sail (Naut.), a triangular sail of
      peculiar form. It is chiefly used to set on a boat's mast.
      

   To crowd sail. (Naut.) See under Crowd.

   To loose sails (Naut.), to unfurl or spread sails.

   To make sail (Naut.), to extend an additional quantity of
      sail.

   To set a sail (Naut.), to extend or spread a sail to the
      wind.

   To set sail (Naut.), to unfurl or spread the sails; hence,
      to begin a voyage.

   To shorten sail (Naut.), to reduce the extent of sail, or
      take in a part.

   To strike sail (Naut.), to lower the sails suddenly, as in
      saluting, or in sudden gusts of wind; hence, to
      acknowledge inferiority; to abate pretension.

   Under sail, having the sails spread.
      [1913 Webster]

3. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Sail \Sail\, v. t.
   1. To pass or move upon, as in a ship, by means of sails;
      hence, to move or journey upon (the water) by means of
      steam or other force.
      [1913 Webster]

            A thousand ships were manned to sail the sea.
                                                  --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To fly through; to glide or move smoothly through.
      [1913 Webster]

            Sublime she sails
            The aerial space, and mounts the wing[`e]d gales.
                                                  --Pope.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To direct or manage the motion of, as a vessel; as, to
      sail one's own ship. --Totten.
      [1913 Webster]

4. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Sail \Sail\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sailed; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Sailing.] [AS. segelian, seglian. See Sail, n.]
   1. To be impelled or driven forward by the action of wind
      upon sails, as a ship on water; to be impelled on a body
      of water by the action of steam or other power.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To move through or on the water; to swim, as a fish or a
      water fowl.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To be conveyed in a vessel on water; to pass by water; as,
      they sailed from London to Canton.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To set sail; to begin a voyage.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. To move smoothly through the air; to glide through the air
      without apparent exertion, as a bird.
      [1913 Webster]

            As is a winged messenger of heaven, . . .
            When he bestrides the lazy pacing clouds,
            And sails upon the bosom of the air.  --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

5. V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (February 2016)
SAIL
       Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory [language] (USA, AI)
       

6. The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003)
SAIL
 /sayl/, /S?A?I?L/, n.

    1. The Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab. An important site in the early
    development of LISP; with the MIT AI Lab, BBN, CMU, XEROX PARC, and the
    Unix community, one of the major wellsprings of technical innovation and
    hacker-culture traditions (see the WAITS entry for details). The SAIL
    machines were shut down in late May 1990, scant weeks after the MIT AI
    Lab's ITS cluster was officially decommissioned.

    2. The Stanford Artificial Intelligence Language used at SAIL (sense 1). It
    was an Algol-60 derivative with a coroutining facility and some new data
    types intended for building search trees and association lists.


7. The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018)
SAIL

   1.  Stanford Artificial Intelligence
   Laboratory.

   2.  Stanford Artificial Intelligence Language.

   3.  An early system on the Larc computer.

   [Listed in CACM 2(5):16, May 1959].

   [Jargon File]

   (2001-06-22)


Thesaurus Results for Sail:

1. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
aeroplane, airlift, airplane, balloon, balloon sail, batten, be airborne, be effortless, be painless, boat, boltrope, breeze, canoe, canvas, carry sail, circumnavigate, clew, cloth, coast, course, cringle, cross, crossing, crowd of sail, cruise, dart, drift, earing, embark, ferry, fleet, flit, float, flow, fly, fly-by-night, flying kites, foot, fore gaff-topsail, fore topgallant sail, fore-and-aft sail, fore-skysail, fore-topmast staysail, fore-topsail, foreroyal, foresail, forestaysail, galley, get under way, ghost, give no trouble, glide, glissade, go by ship, go easily, go like clockwork, go off soundings, go on shipboard, go to sea, have way upon, head, hop, hover, hydroplane, ice-skate, jenny, jet, jib, jigger, leech, leg, leg-of-mutton sail, loose-footed sail, luff, lug, main gaff-topsail, main royal, main skysail, main-royal staysail, main-topsail, mainsail, make a passage, mizzen, mizzen skysail, mizzen staysail, mizzen-royal staysail, mizzen-topgallant sail, moonraker, moonsail, motorboat, muslin, navigate, ocean trip, parachute spinnaker, passage, pilot, plain sail, plane, plow the deep, ply, present no difficulties, press of sail, push off, put off, put to sea, rag, reduced sail, reef, reef point, reefed sail, ride, ride the sea, roll, roller-skate, row, royal, run, run smoothly, sail away, sail round, sail the sea, sailboat, sailing boat, sailing cruiser, sailing ship, sailing vessel, sailplane, scud, scull, sea trip, seafare, seaplane, set sail, shakedown cruise, shoot, shove off, sideslip, skate, skateboard, ski, skid, skim, skyscraper, sled, sleigh, slide, slip, slither, soar, spanker, spinnaker, spitfire, square sail, staysail, steam, steamboat, steer, stern staysail, storm trysail, sweep, take a voyage, take the air, take wing, tall ship, toboggan, topsail, traverse, trysail, volplane, voyage, waft, walk the waters, windboat, windjammer, windship, wing, work well, yacht
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