释义 |
brail 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 > |