crowd sail

English

Verb

crowd sail (third-person singular simple present crowds sail, present participle crowding sail, simple past and past participle crowded sail)

1. (nautical, dated, idiomatic) To carry an unusual amount of sail in an attempt to accelerate the speed of a vessel.
   • 1827, William James, The Naval History of Great Britain […] :

     the Spaniards busied themselves in making the most of a sudden favourable change of wind, and, without much regard to order, were crowding sail to get near the land.

References

• “crowd”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.