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Webster 1913 Edition

Noun.

(Naut.)

The process of taking in a reef.

Reefing bowsprit

a bowsprit so rigged that it can easily be run in or shortened by sliding inboard, as in cutters.

ppr.

Folding and making fast to the yard, as a portion of a sail.

reefing ‎(plural reefings)

The process of reefing (taking in a sail); an act of reefing; also used of clothing.
- 1852, Charles Barter, The Dorp and the Veld: or, Six Months in Natal, page 248,
  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 […] .
- 1868 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Our Second Girl, Atlantic Monthly, Volume 21, page 53,
  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; […] .
- 2005, John S. Bohne, In the Shadow of the Moon, page 28,
  Many had the bald-headed sail rigging, so crews would not have to go aloft in the winds to do dangerous reefings.
(Australia, New Zealand) A reef (seam of quartz).
- 1924, Newspaper Press Directory, page 387,
  Alluvial goldfields and quartz reefings are in its vicinity, and good indications of coal.
- 1977, William Kelly, Life in Victoria: or, Victoria in 1853, and Victoria in 1858, page 218,
  […] 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.

reefing