Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adverb & adjective With sails trimmed flat for sailing as close to the wind as possible.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective nautical with the sails trimmed as close to the wind as possible with all sails full and not shivering
  • adverb with the sails close-hauled

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Had he had the eyes of a man, nearly two yards higher than his own from the deck, and had they been the trained eyes of a man, sailor-man at that, Jerry could have seen the low blur of Ysabel to the north and the blur of Florida to the south, ever taking on definiteness of detail as the Arangi sagged close-hauled, with a good full, port-tacked to the south-east trade.

    CHAPTER III 2010

  • As he approached, close-hauled on the wind, he saw her decks crowded by an unusually large crew, and on sailing in closer, made out among others the faces of his missing comrades.

    Chris Farrington, Able Seaman 2010

  • The early morning found the Wonder laying close-hauled along the coast of Guadalcanar.

    A SON OF THE SUN 2010

  • A heavy surf thundered and burst over an outjutting rock; lowering storm-clouds covered the sky; and, outside the line of surf, a pilot-schooner, close-hauled, heeled over till every detail of her deck was visible, was surging along against a stormy sunset sky.

    Chapter 1 2010

  • Running off before the wind with everything to starboard, he came about, and returned close-hauled on the port tack.

    Chapter 17 2010

  • The boat was close-hauled on a fresh breeze and the compass indicated that we were just making the course which would bring us to Japan.

    Chapter 27 2010

  • On this night, close-hauled, her big mainsail preposterously flattened down, her luffs pulsing emptily on the lift of each smooth swell, she was sliding an easy four knots through the water on the veriest whisper of a breeze.

    THE DEVILS OF FUATINO 2010

  • And still we drive south, close-hauled on the wind, toward the inhospitable tip of the continent.

    CHAPTER XXXII 2010

  • Benjamin Mendlowitz Two schooners sailing close-hauled through the rough September seas of Vineyard Sound off Massachusetts — the photograph above is a timeless evocation of American boating.

    Photo-Op: Rough Seas 2011

  • I came on deck to find the Ghost heading up close on the port tack and cutting in to windward of a familiar spritsail close-hauled on the same tack ahead of us.

    Chapter 19 2010

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