Spooming

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Moving rapidly across the water before a strong gale with sails set and the wind pushing from behind
2. Running fast downwind under full sail, carried along ahead of a powerful storm wind
3. Traveling swiftly over the sea with the wind astern, driven forward by a heavy gale

Etymology: "Spooming" is the present participle of "spoom," a term from sailing for a ship running before a strong wind, with her sails set and her bow pushed through the waves. The verb is probably a variant of "spume," the old word for foam, which fits the image of a vessel throwing spray off her bow as she races downwind. The link to foam is a plausible one, though the exact path from "spume" to "spoom" is not settled, so the connection should be read as probable rather than proven. What is clear is that the word belongs to the vocabulary of seafaring, where the sea's white froth and a fast, wind-driven passage were closely associated in the minds of sailors.