Word.ws English Dictionary

reefing

reefing noun: the process of reefing (taking in a sail); an act of reefing; also used of clothing. Also the present participle and gerund of reef.

Noun

reefing (plural reefings)

  1. The process of reefing (taking in a sail); an act of reefing; also used of clothing.
    • I will not detain the reader with the contents of our sea-log, which is full of tackings and reefings, of setting and taking in of sails, and many other manoeuvres[…].1852, Charles Barter, The Dorp and the Veld: or, Six Months in Natal, page 248
    • As matters were, our three girls never could be in our kitchen at one time without reefings and manœuvrings of their apparel which much impeded any other labor, and caused some loss of temper;[…].1868 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “Our Second Girl”, in Atlantic Monthly, volume 21, page 53
  2. (Australia, New Zealand) A reef (seam of quartz).
    • Alluvial goldfields and quartz reefings are in its vicinity, and good indications of coal.1924, Newspaper Press Directory, page 387
    • […]instead of taking a “leap in the dark” — a mistake which impulsive young men sometimes make in other relations of life, as well as in quartz reefings.1977, William Kelly, Life in Victoria: or, Victoria in 1853, and Victoria in 1858, page 218

Also used as

reefing is also the present participle and gerund of reef.

Forms of reefing

pluralreefings

Words formed from reefing

Phrases with reefing

Questions about reefing

What does reefing mean?
Reefing means the process of reefing (taking in a sail); an act of reefing; also used of clothing.
What part of speech is reefing?
Reefing is a noun.
What is the plural of reefing?
The plural of reefing is reefings.

Words near reefing in the dictionary

  1. reeffish
  2. reefgobies
  3. reefgoby
  4. reefier
  5. reefiest
  6. reefing
  7. reefing bowsprit
  8. reefing bowsprits
  9. reefings
  10. reefless
  11. reeflike

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: reefing (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-reefing.ogg.

Cite this entry: “reefing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/reefing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.