sail-road

noun

The ocean; the open sea.

OriginOld English seglrād →
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Meanings

nounthe sail-road
  1. literaryrarekenningThe ocean; the open sea.

    Never before had she sailed into the open sea, and out of sight of land; never had she taken the sail road.

    2013, Stephen Baxter, Alternate Histories, London: Gollanz
    2 more examples

    There were writhing sea-dragosn and monsters slouching on slopes by the cliff, serpents and wild things such as those that often surface at dawn to roam the sail-road and doom the voyage.

    1999, Seamus Heaney, Beowulf, London: Faber and Faber, page 47

    [N]or for all their skill might those dwellers in the earth see the sail-road, how this greatest of tents was tied, when he honoured with glory that people loyal to their Lord.

    2013, Michael D. J. Bintley and Michael G. Shapland, Trees and Timber in the Anglo-Saxon World, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 218

Origin

  1. Old Englishseglrād
  2. Englishsail-road

Calque of Old English seglrād, a kenning formed from segl (“sail”) + rād (“road”).

More words from Old English

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

sail-road. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sail-road

MLA

“sail-road.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sail-road. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sail-road,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sail-road.

Source: sail-road on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.