reef-tackle

noun

The ropes that are tightened to reef a sail or loosened to fully extend it.

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Meanings

nounreef-tackle (plural reef-tackles)

plural reef-tackles

  1. nauticalThe ropes that are tightened to reef a sail or loosened to fully extend it.

    topsail yards down upon the caps, and sails flapping and beating against the masts; and starboard watch hauling out the reef-tackles of the main topsail.

    1840, R[ichard] H[enry] D[ana], Jr., “CHAPTER XXXV”, in Two Years before the Mast. […] (Harper’s Family Library; no. CVI), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], →OCLC
Cite this entry
APA

reef-tackle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reef-tackle

MLA

“reef-tackle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reef-tackle. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “reef-tackle,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reef-tackle.

Source: reef-tackle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.