Windjammer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A large, multi-masted sailing vessel from the 19th century designed mainly for cargo transport at sea
2. A historical sailing craft characterized by its multiple masts, primarily utilized for substantial maritime trade and cargo transport during the 19th century
3. A type of big sailing ship with several masts, used mainly in the 1800s for transporting goods by sea

Etymology: The sailors who first used "windjammer" did not mean it as a compliment. In the late 1800s, crews on steam-powered ships applied the term scornfully to the sailing vessels still competing with them, mocking ships that depended on the wind rather than engines. The insult was built from two plain English words: "wind," the force that drove these ships, and "jammer," a slang term for a sailor or a person who works at a task with some vigour, possibly tied to the verb "jam" in the sense of pushing or squeezing forward. The contempt faded over time, and the word came to name the ships themselves, especially the large multi-masted cargo vessels of the later 1800s and early 1900s that carried grain and other goods across oceans. The sailors who crewed them often took up the name with pride, so a word that began as a steam-era jibe ended as a badge of seamanship.

Synonyms: sailing ship, tall ship, clipper, yacht, vessel