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Luff   Listen
noun
Luff  n.  (Naut.)
(a)
The side of a ship toward the wind.
(b)
The act of sailing a ship close to the wind.
(c)
The roundest part of a ship's bow.
(d)
The forward or weather leech of a sail, especially of the jib, spanker, and other fore-and-aft sails.
Luff tackle, a purchase composed of a double and single block and fall, used for various purposes.
Luff upon luff, a luff tackle attached to the fall of another luff tackle.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Luff" Quotes from Famous Books



... Our fraught is Grecians, Turks, and Afric Moors; For late upon the coast of Corsica, Because we vail'd not [62] to the Turkish [63] fleet, Their creeping galleys had us in the chase: But suddenly the wind began to rise, And then we luff'd and tack'd, [64] and fought at ease: Some have we fir'd, and many have we sunk; But one amongst the rest became our prize: The captain's slain; the rest remain our slaves, Of whom we would make sale in ...
— The Jew of Malta • Christopher Marlowe

... later, things drew near a crisis. We had been obliged to luff a little, in order to clear a reef that even Marble admitted lay off Montauk, while the Leander had kept quite as much away, with a view to close. This brought the fifty so near us, directly on our weather beam, as to induce her commander to try the virtue of gunpowder. Her ...
— Miles Wallingford - Sequel to "Afloat and Ashore" • James Fenimore Cooper

... me; and I must own that I had little left for him. My mother loved him still, and so did my sister; but they left off talking to him about his drunkenness. It was of no use; they prayed for him instead.—Steady, Jacob; luff a bit, my lad; luff ...
— Frank Oldfield - Lost and Found • T.P. Wilson

... such as is required in gouty patients, so long as the digestion is not impaired. Benefit is also derived from the administration of cod-liver oil, and of tonics, such as strychnin, arsenic, and iron, and in some cases of iodide of potassium. Luff recommends the administration over long periods of guaiacol carbonate, in cachets beginning with doses of 5-10 grs. and increased to 15-20 grs. thrice daily. A course of treatment at one of the reputed spas—Aix, Bath, Buxton, Gastein, Harrogate, Strathpeffer, Wiesbaden, ...
— Manual of Surgery - Volume First: General Surgery. Sixth Edition. • Alexis Thomson and Alexander Miles

... being now over her anchor, and the top-sails set, the capstan bars were shipped again, the men all heaved with a will, the messenger grinned, the anchor was torn out of China with a mighty heave, and then ran up with a luff tackle and secured; the ship's head cast ...
— Hard Cash • Charles Reade

... "Luff!" commanded Jarrow, holding out his arms to head Dinshaw off from the door. "You'll see me! You've been usin' me and my schooner long enough, and if there's anything in this yarn of yours, it's mine. Who's ...
— Isle o' Dreams • Frederick F. Moore

... the wind to play, and would try to pass, but you catch it in your white wings—catch it and hold it, leaning over to its fleeing passage, and press the trembling tiller-pulse, now throbbing with life, and luff as the boat darts forward in joy of possession of the wind, but she passes, gently, gently up again with the tiller till she leaves the sails with the ...
— Impressions of a War Correspondent • George Lynch

... most partic'lar fine officer he is, as every body says. Well, sir, he's with the ladies; while his namesake has gone back to the table, and has put luff upon ...
— The Two Admirals • J. Fenimore Cooper

... bed early, and Fernando slept soundly. It was Terrence who awoke them and said it would not do to be late. He had engaged a sailor called Luff Williams to take them in his boat to the spot, a long sandy beach behind a high promontory some five or six miles from the city. The spot was quite secluded, and Terrence declared it a love of a place for such ...
— Sustained honor - The Age of Liberty Established • John R. Musick,

... second, sir? not that it matters much about him if the captain and first luff are all right. I suppose she has four on board, as she ...
— By Conduct and Courage • G. A. Henty

... 'Luff, you lubber,' cried an Irish voice that was Smee's; 'here's the rock. Now, then, what we have to do is to hoist the redskin on to it and ...
— Peter and Wendy • James Matthew Barrie

... hour of deliberation his guardian angel, who was the only one having his interests really at heart, and who loved him unselfishly,—this angel advised him in the similitude of a dream to "luff a little and go round the obstacles." Jason luffed, and passed on with colors flying; which was doubtless much better than trying to squeeze through the floating islands in the midst of an ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. XII, No. 29. August, 1873. • Various

... Marshe John Luff Henry Traske William Moudey Robert Sever Thomas Avery Henry Travers Thomas Sweete John Woodbridge Thomas West Thomas Savery Christopher Osgood Phillip Fowler Richard Jacob Daniel Ladd Robert Kingsman John Bartlett Robert Coker William Savery ...
— Old New England Traits • Anonymous

... had fallen off, and took the wind so far on the beam that she buried her scuppers deep in the waves. The order to "touch her up," or luff her up into the wind, so as partially to spill the sail, was given to ease off the tremendous pressure. The Josephine minded her helm, and luffed so ...
— Dikes and Ditches - Young America in Holland and Belguim • Oliver Optic

... she said. It had never taken me like that before; but the want of her took and shook all through me, like the wind in the luff of ...
— Island Nights' Entertainments • Robert Louis Stevenson

... the wheel knew very well what was wanted, and he put his helm up, instead of putting it down, as he might have done without this injunction. As this change brought the brig before the wind, and Spike was in no hurry to luff up on the other tack, the Swash soon ran over a mile of the distance she had already made, putting her back that much on her way to the Neck. It is out of our power to say what the people of the different craft in sight thought of all this, but an opportunity soon offered of ...
— Jack Tier or The Florida Reef • James Fenimore Cooper

... falls of the tackles were stretched forward, and all hands tallied on, and bowsed away upon them until the book was well entered, when these tackles were nippered, straps and toggles clapped upon the falls, and two more luff tackles hooked on, with dogs, in the same manner; and thus, by luff upon luff, the power was multiplied, until into a pile in which one hide more could not be crowded by hand a hundred or a hundred and fifty were often driven by this complication ...
— Two Years Before the Mast • Richard Henry Dana

... beaten out of the field. The true believers were, of course, indignant at this conduct of an infidel and a stranger; and as they could not weather on him in the fair way of trade, they determined to try if they could not "choke his luff" by a practical expedient. Paying him a visit one day, they spoiled his stock in trade, broke his gear, gave him a good thrashing, and told him to take that as a gentle hint of what they would do if he did not behave himself ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 380, June, 1847 • Various

... take ship, get under way; set sail, spread sail, spread canvas; gather way, have way on; make sail, carry sail; plow the waves, plow the deep, plow the main, plow the ocean; walk the waters. navigate, warp, luff^, scud, boom, kedge; drift, course, cruise, coast; hug the shore, hug the land; circumnavigate. ply the oar, row, paddle, pull, scull, punt, steam. swim, float; buffet the waves, ride the storm, skim, effleurer [Fr.], ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget

... and pulling certain cordages in cadence; those crying, swearing, whistling, and filling the air with barbarous and unknown sounds. The officer on duty, in his turn, roaring out these words, starboard! larboard! hoist! luff! tack! which the helmsman repeated in the same tone. All this hubbub, however, produced its effect: the yards were turned on their pivots, the sails set, the cordage tightened, and the unfortunate sea-boys having ...
— Perils and Captivity • Charlotte-Adelaide [nee Picard] Dard

... Chinese do, a shot is just as likely to hit your little carcase as to lodge in one of the sailors. No, you must just make the best of it, Percy, and I promise you that next time there is a boat expedition, if you are not put in, I will say a good word to the first luff for you." ...
— Tales of Daring and Danger • George Alfred Henty

... when all my work was over and I was on my way to my berth, it occurred to me that I should like an apple. I ran on deck. The watch was all forward looking out for the island. The man at the helm was watching the luff of the sail and whistling away gently to himself, and that was the only sound excepting the swish of the sea against the bows and around the ...
— Treasure Island • Robert Louis Stevenson

... of our nation's natal day At the rise and set of sun, Shall boom from the far north-east away To the vales of Oregon. And ships on the seashore luff and tack, And send ...
— Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 366, April, 1846 • Various

... our own," said Griffith, rousing again; "though we had better anchor. Luff, fellow, luff—you ...
— The Pilot • J. Fenimore Cooper

... days, in those under his command. One of these, then a midshipman, writes to the author that he still recalls, after the lapse of nearly sixty years, the kindness, consideration and hospitality shown him by the future admiral, who was then known through the service as the "Little Luff" Farragut—luff being a naval abbreviation, now obsolete, for lieutenant. But with all his kindness there was no relaxation in the enforcement of necessary duty. In December, 1832, he was again ordered to sea in the sloop-of-war Natchez, as her first lieutenant; ...
— Admiral Farragut • A. T. Mahan

... automatic rudder is therefore generally used to overcome this tendency of the yacht to "luff" in the wind. Fig. 147 shows the course of a yacht reaching from A to B. The dotted lines show the course she should follow. The full line shows the effect of puffs of wind, which repeatedly take her out of her course. Many times she may completely turn around ...
— Boys' Book of Model Boats • Raymond Francis Yates



Words linked to "Luff" :   flap, navigation, wave, edge, pilotage, piloting, undulate, seafaring, fore-and-aft sail, sailing, sail, roll, point



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