SLOOP • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Sloop

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noun

Sloop n.

(Naut.) A vessel having one mast and fore-and-aft rig, consisting of a boom-and-gaff mainsail, jibs, staysail, and gaff topsail. The typical sloop has a fixed bowsprit, topmast, and standing rigging, while those of a cutter are capable of being readily shifted. The sloop usually carries a centerboard, and depends for stability upon breadth of beam rather than depth of keel. The two types have rapidly approximated since 1880. One radical distinction is that a sloop may carry a centerboard. See Cutter.

(Naut.) In modern usage, a sailing vessel having one mast, commonly with a Bermuda rig, with either a center-board or a keel. In the United States, a sloop may have one or two headsails, while in Western Europe and Great Britain a sloop has only one headsail.

Sloop of war, formerly, a vessel of war rigged either as a ship, brig, or schooner, and mounting from ten to thirty-two guns; now, any war vessel larger than a gunboat, and carrying guns on one deck only.

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Etymology of 'Sloop'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Sloop" Quotes from Famous Books

... a letter from Captain Jones, who commanded the sloop of war Wasp, reporting his capture of the British sloop of war Frolic, after a close action, in which other brilliant titles will be seen to the public ...

— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 4 (of 4) of Volume 1: James Madison • Edited by James D. Richardson

... Navy Yard, at Mare Island, near Vallejo, is large and well placed, with deep fresh water. The old Independence, and the sloop Decatur, and two steamers were there, and they were experimenting on building a despatch boat, the ...

— Two Years Before the Mast • Richard Henry Dana

... rotting contraband on Vladivostock slip.) She turned and dived in the sea-smother as a rabbit dives in the whins, And the Northern Light sent up her boats to steal the stolen skins. They had not brought a load to side or slid their hatches clear, When they were aware of a sloop-of-war, ghost-white and very near. Her flag she showed, and her guns she showed — three of them, black, abeam, And a funnel white with the crusted salt, but never a ...

— Verses 1889-1896 • Rudyard Kipling

... a creek not far from his father's house, where it was customary to load sloops with wood. Upon one of these occasions, he persuaded a party of boys to pry up a pile of wood and tip it into a sloop, in a confused heap. Of course, it must all be taken out and reloaded. When he saw how much labor this foolish trick had caused, he felt some compunction; but the next temptation found the spirit of mischief ...

— Isaac T. Hopper • L. Maria Child

... States sloop Gettysburg has also made some remarkable discoveries in a neighboring field. I quote from John James Wild (in Nature, ...

— The Antediluvian World • Ignatius Donnelly

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