reef
/ɹiːf/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.83 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A large vein of auriferous quartz; hence, any body of rock yielding valuable ore.
Australian usage
noun
A reef knot.
Example Sentences
- "They sailed as if they were stark mad; they never took in a reef in the sail, and when the seas filled the boat, they sailed her up on the back of a wave till she stood nearly on end, the water rushing out over her stern as out of a spout."
- ""When the day arrived that the boy was to be skipper, the weather was calm and fine, but he called all men to reef sails, so the ship had scarcely any sail on her.""
- "1970 July–December, Margaret Quilty, Roller Reefing Made Easy, Boating, page 63, Be sure the blocks are securely mounted—they carry a fairish load when the sail is reefed. If both reefing line and main halyard are led to the cockpit, even singlehanded reefing is a breeze."
- "Mains are made smaller by reefing. This can be done by rolling up the sail around the boom, or by the more traditional method of tying down a panel along the foot."
- "The reefing system for a mainsail must be designed to operate efficiently under adverse conditions and to provide proper sail shape when reefed."
- "And when the Cup came on he stirred them up ′round the barrier and he flew out of the barrier and he pulled and reefed and pulled and reefed and Lewis didn′t let him settle down until about three furlongs from home and when he did settle the horse was all out of stride and he went back through the field a fair bit."
Etymology
From earlier riff, from Middle English rif, from Old Norse rif (“rib, reef”), from Proto-Germanic *ribją (“rib, reef”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rebʰ- (“arch, ceiling, cover”). Dutch rif (“reef”), Low German riff, reff (“reef”), German Riff (“reef, ledge”) are also borrowed from Old Norse. Doublet of rib.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
reefs (plural)
riff (alternative)
reefs (present, singular)
reefing (participle, present)
reefed (participle, past)
reefed (past)
reefer (comparative)
more reef (comparative)
reefest (superlative)
most reef (superlative)
reif (alternative)
rief (alternative)