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noun

Reef n.

A chain or range of rocks lying at or near the surface of the water. See Coral reefs, under Coral.

(Mining.) A large vein of auriferous quartz; so called in Australia. Hence, any body of rock yielding valuable ore.

Reef builder (Zool.), any stony coral which contributes material to the formation of coral reefs.

Reef heron (Zool.), any heron of the genus Demigretta; as, the blue reef heron (Demigretta jugularis) of Australia.

Reef n. (Naut.) That part of a sail which is taken in or let out by means of the reef points, in order to adapt the size of the sail to the force of the wind. Note: From the head to the first reef-band, in square sails, is termed the first reef; from this to the next is the second reef; and so on. In fore-and-aft sails, which reef on the foot, the first reef is the lowest part.

Close reef, the last reef that can be put in.

Reef band. See Reef-band in the Vocabulary.

Reef knot, the knot which is used in tying reef pointss.

Reef line, a small rope formerly used to reef the courses by being passed spirally round the yard and through the holes of the reef.

Reef points, pieces of small rope passing through the eyelet holes of a reef-band, and used reefing the sail.

Reef tackle, a tackle by which the reef cringles, or rings, of a sail are hauled up to the yard for reefing.

To take a reef in, to reduce the size of (a sail) by folding or rolling up a reef, and lashing it to the spar.

verb

Reef v. t. (past & past part. reefed; pres. part. reefing) (Naut.) To reduce the extent of (as a sail) by rolling or folding a certain portion of it and making it fast to the yard or spar.

To reef the paddles, to move the floats of a paddle wheel toward its center so that they will not dip so deeply.

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Etymology of 'Reef'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Reef" Quotes from Famous Books

... American catboat. The cat can sail into the very eye of the wind, while before the wind she is a flier, and yet she is not the best sail boat for a beginner. Let me tell you why: First, the sail is heavy and so it is hard to hoist and reef. Second, in going before the wind there is constant danger of jibing with serious results. Third, the catboat has a very bad habit of rolling when sailing before the wind, and each time the boat rolls from side to side she is liable to dip the end ...

— Healthful Sports for Boys • Alfred Rochefort

... themselves at some proper date and wind up well. This very morning the illusion completed its disappearance, and, as it were, all of a sudden, Troy hated himself. The suddenness was probably more apparent than real. A coral reef which just comes short of the ocean surface is no more to the horizon than if it had never been begun, and the mere finishing stroke is what often appears to create an event which has long been ...

— Far from the Madding Crowd • Thomas Hardy

... the reef points. All were aware of the nature of the chase in which they were embarked. The whole crew were full of ardour. They felt it as a personal grievance that the young lady to whom their employer was engaged had not only been carried ...

— The Queen's Cup • G. A. Henty

... in the North Pacific Ocean; Johnston Island and Sand Island are natural islands, which have been expanded by coral dredging; North Island (Akau) and East Island (Hikina) are manmade islands formed from coral dredging; the egg-shaped reef is 34 km in circumference; closed to the public; a former US nuclear weapons test site; site of now-closed Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System (JACADS); most facilities dismantled and cleanup complete ...

— The 2005 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency

... paddled to the southwestern point, which Goork said he believed to be the least frequented portion of the island, as he had never seen boats put off from there. I found a shallow reef running far out into the sea and rather precipitous cliffs running almost to the surf. It was a nasty place to land, and I realized now why it was not used by the natives; but at last I managed, after a good wetting, to beach my canoe and scale ...

— Pellucidar • Edgar Rice Burroughs

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