noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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I yelled at the crew to leave the work and lower the mainsail to just two panels.
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The mainsail was still swinging back and forth, sweeping the cabin top, so it was lowered and tied down.
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The fully battened mainsail is loose-footed and stands a bold roach which has to brush past the backstay during a tack.
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Whatever the urgency, setting more than the number three jib and the mainsail would have been stupid.
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With mainsail set and at full throttle we steamed for home.
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With just the mainsail out, the boat heeled hard off the wind on to a port reach.
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Yesterday we had replaced yet another of the bamboo battens in the mainsail .
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Yet somehow one hand remained on the wheel and the other clasped the mainsail winch.