sloop

/slup/

Other forms: sloops

A sailboat with one mast is known as a sloop. In general, sloops are known as speedy boats that are relatively simple to rig with sails.

If you spot a sailboat with a single mast and two sails, it's almost certainly a sloop. Sloops come in many sizes, from small dinghies to 100-foot sailboats. What they have in common is the way they're rigged, or how their sails and masts are organized. A sloop's rigging is usually "fore and aft," with one sail in front of the mast and one behind it. The word sloop comes from the Middle Dutch slupen, "to glide."

Definitions of sloop

1. noun

   a sailing vessel with a single mast set about one third of the boat's length aft of the bow
   types:

   knockabout

   a sloop with a simplified rig and no bowsprit

   raceabout

   a small sloop having the keep of a knockabout but with finer lines and carrying more sail

   type of:

   sailing ship, sailing vessel

   a vessel that is powered by the wind; often having several masts