I. ˈbrāl, esp bef pause or cons -āəl noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English brayle, from Anglo-French braiel, from Old French, girdle, belt, strap, from braies breeches
1. : a rope that is fastened to the leech of a sail and run through a block and by which the sail can be hauled up or hauled in preparatory to furling or in place of furling
2.
a. : the feathers at a hawk's rump — usually used in plural
b. : a thong of soft leather to restrain a hawk's wing
3.
a. : a pipe or rod with many hooks attached that is drawn over a clam bed in harvesting clams
b. : a dip net resembling a small purse seine with which fish are hauled aboard a boat after being gathered in a purse seine or trap ; also : such a dip net full of fish
a brail of salmon
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
1. : to take in (a sail) by the brails
vessels coming into the wind and brailing up their square sails — Kenneth Roberts
the spanker was of little use and we … brailed it in — C.V.Reilly
2. : to restrain (the wings of a hawk) with a brail
3. : to hoist (fish) by means of a dip net (as from a trap into a ship's hold)
brail sardines aboard