Word.ws English Dictionary

foregaff

foregaff noun: the gaff (spar that controls a gaff-rigged sail) that controls a gaff-rigged foresail.

foregaff: the gaff (spar that controls a gaff-rigged sail) that controls a gaff-rigged foresail
Image: Miso Beno, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

foregaff (plural foregaffs)

  1. The gaff (spar that controls a gaff-rigged sail) that controls a gaff-rigged foresail.
    • Schooner Gracie M. Filer lost foregaff in a blow on Lake Michigan.1880, United States. Army. Signal Corps, Annual Report (page 744)
    • The foresail went over with a bang, and the foregaff stabbed and ripped through the stay-sail, which, was of course, prevented from going over by the mainstay.1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous

Forms of foregaff

pluralforegaffs

Origin of foregaff

From fore- + gaff.

Questions about foregaff

What does foregaff mean?
Foregaff means the gaff (spar that controls a gaff-rigged sail) that controls a gaff-rigged foresail.
What part of speech is foregaff?
Foregaff is a noun.
What is the plural of foregaff?
The plural of foregaff is foregaffs.

Words near foregaff in the dictionary

  1. forefronted
  2. forefronting
  3. forefronts
  4. forefruit
  5. forefruits
  6. foregaff
  7. foregaffs
  8. foregain
  9. foregainst
  10. foregame
  11. foregames

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: foregaff (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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