mainsail

From main +‎ sail.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪnseɪl/, /ˈmeɪnsəl/^[1]

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

mainsail (plural mainsails)

1. (nautical) The largest (or only) sail on a sailing vessel.
   • 1887, Mrs. Dominic D. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 16:

     The mainsail was "scandalised" - a nautical mode of describing a sail reefed at both ends[.]

   • (Can we date this quote?), “RS Quest Rigging Instructions”, in California State University, Sacramento‎^[2], page 3:

     Now stow the mainsail as follows, preferably with the sail still lying in the starboard cockpit: beginning at the head, fold the upper section so that the upper two battens are aligned together; then tightly roll the sail from the head down to the foot. Reinsert the sail into its bag.

• main (“mainsail”)