raffeen.
/ˈrafiː/, U.S. /ˈræfi/ Nautical.
In square-rigged vessels: a small sail set above the skysail.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > masts, rigging, or sails > sail > [noun] > topsail > on foremast > of schooner
raffee1880
1880 D. Kemp Man. Yacht & Boat Sailing (ed. 2) 547/1 Raffee, the square topsail set flying on the foretopmast of schooners, and formerly often set on cutters and ketches above the squaresail. Sometimes this topsail is triangular in shape, like a scraper.
1891 H. Patterson Illustr. Naut. Dict. 144 Raffeé Rail, a sail in the shape of an equilateral triangle..which is sometimes set over the highest yard... This sail is common to English schooner yachts rigged to carry a squaresail, as the raffeé is set over the yard.
1922 Field 8 July 59/1 A square sail and a raffee, or the topsail set over it, are such old-fashioned sails that many modern yachtsmen have never seen them.
1942 C. Crockett House in Rain Forest i. 18 The southeast trades filling our square-sail and raffee.
2001 Ships Monthly Mar. 36/3 The sail-plan is for three headsails and just two square yards on the foremast for course and single topsail, although a raffee can be set above the upper yard.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1880