reefed
English
[edit]Verb
[edit]reefed
- simple past and past participle of reef
Adjective
[edit]reefed (comparative more reefed, superlative most reefed)
- (nautical) Having part of a sail tied up in order to adapt the size of the sail to the force of the wind.
- 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[.]
- (aviation, space flight, of a parachute) Semi-deployed, with the canopy initially restricted from fully opening, in order to avoid subjecting the canopy to excessive air loads or the payload to excessive g-forces from fully deploying at high airspeed.