Outhaul

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. A method used to extend a sail or a canvas to maximize exposure to wind or weather elements
2. A technique involving the adjustment of rigging to optimize a vessel's performance while sailing
3. Referring to the process of pulling on a line that leads to a sail to ensure it is set correctly and efficiently

Etymology: "Outhaul" is a plain compound of two English words: "out," which goes back through Old English "ūt" to the same ancient root that gave Greek and Latin their forms for "out," and "haul," meaning to pull or draw in a rope. A haul-line pulls something toward you, and the outhaul pulls it outward along a spar, which is exactly the job it does on a sail. The word's history is traceable in English alone. It appears in Middle English as "outhalen," a verb meaning to haul out, and the compound simply joined the directional prefix to the existing verb. Sailors and rigging-workers used the same logic to form many similar terms, so the word reads transparently to anyone who knows what the two parts mean.

Synonyms: haul out, tow out