brail

plural brails

1. nauticalA small rope used to truss up sails.

   Synonyms: brailing

2. falconryA 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. entertainmentA rope or line used to suspend lights or scenery in a certain position.
5. in pluralThe feathers around a hawk's rump.

present singular third person brails · participle present brailing · participle past brailed · past brailed

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

   The winds blew at their own caprice and there was brailing and loosing of canvas.

   1993, Anthony Burgess, A Dead Man in Deptford