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brail

Pronunciation: /bɹeɪl/

The English word “brail” has 6 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A small rope used to truss up sails.
  2. A thong of soft leather to bind up a hawk's wing.
  3. A stock at each end of a seine to keep it stretched.
  4. A rope or line used to suspend lights or scenery in a certain position.
  5. The feathers around a hawk's rump.

verb

  1. To reef, shorten or strike sail using brails.

Etymology

From Middle English brayle, from Old French braiel, from Medieval Latin bracale (“girdle”) (from bracae (“breeches”)).

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.