luff
/lʌf/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.36 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The act of sailing a ship close to the wind.
noun
The forward or weather leech of a sail, especially of the jib, spanker, and other fore-and-aft sails.
verb
To alter the vertical angle of the jib of a crane so as to bring it level with the load.
Example Sentences
- "By easing the halyard, the luff of the sail was made to sag to leeward."
- ""The man at the helm was watching the luff of the sail and whistling away gently to himself.""
- "I thought how my life is like a little boat and I must hold the tiller steady against the buffeting of wind and waves, and how sometimes, like this morning, I lose my hold somehow and the sail luffs helplessly and the little vessel wallows, turning this way and that in the swell."
- ""Helm there! Luff, luff a point! So; steady, man, steady!""
- "The tower is mounted on a slewing platform, which also carries the power plant and the counterweights, while the jib is supported and luffed by fixed pendant ropes."
Etymology
From Old French lof. Collins English Dictionary states that this word is ultimately derived from Middle Dutch loef. Ellert Ekwall's Shakspere's Vocabulary: its etymological elements (1903) related this verb and loof instead to the East Frisian verb lofen, lufen, which would make it cognate to the French term lover.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /lʌf/
- British English: /lʌf/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Phrases
choke the luff
spring the luff
luff alee
luffing crane
luff round
luff tackle
luff up
luff upon luff