Sloop

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Sloop \Sloop\, n.[D. sloep, of uncertain origin. Cf. {Shallop}.]
     1. (Naut.) A vessel having one mast and fore-and-aft rig,
        consisting of a boom-and-gaff mainsail, jibs, staysail,
        and gaff topsail. The typical sloop has a fixed bowsprit,
        topmast, and standing rigging, while those of a cutter are
        capable of being readily shifted. The sloop usually


        carries a centerboard, and depends for stability upon
        breadth of beam rather than depth of keel. The two types
        have rapidly approximated since 1880. One radical
        distinction is that a sloop may carry a centerboard. See
        {Cutter}, and Illustration in Appendix.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Naut.) In modern usage, a sailing vessel having one mast,
        commonly with a Bermuda rig, with either a center-board or
        a keel. In the United States, a sloop may have one or two
        headsails, while in Western Europe and Great Britain a
        sloop has only one headsail.
        [RDH]
  
     {Sloop of war}, formerly, a vessel of war rigged either as a
        ship, brig, or schooner, and mounting from ten to
        thirty-two guns; now, any war vessel larger than a
        gunboat, and carrying guns on one deck only.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

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

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  Sloop
       
          "Parallel Programming in a Virtual Object Space", S. Lucco,
          SIGPLAN Notices 22(12):26-34 (OOPSLA '87) (Dec 1987).