xebec

American  

[zee-bek] / ˈzi bɛk /

Also zebeck.

noun

1. a small, three-masted vessel of the Mediterranean, formerly much used by corsairs, now employed to some extent in commerce.

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xebec British  

/ ˈziːbɛk /

noun

1. a small three-masted Mediterranean vessel with both square and lateen sails, formerly used by Algerian pirates and later used for commerce

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Etymology

Origin of xebec

1750–60; alteration of earlier chebec < French < Catalan xabec or Spanish xabeque (now jabeque ), both < Arabic shabbāk

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

xebec

By page 300 Haiti is left far behind; Albion and Lydia languish as prisoners aboard a Tripolitan xebec manned by ruffians in green turbans, and Lear has become U.S.

From Time Magazine Archive

Mistico, mis′ti-kō, n. a small Mediterranean coaster, between a xebec and a felucca.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various

Being generally equipped as a corsair, the xebec was constructed with a narrow floor, for speed, and of great breadth, to enable her to carry a great press of sail.

From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Belcher, Edward, Sir

The poor xebec looked like an insect beside the great vessel manned by the wildest and most reckless crew ever gathered on the wharves of Gibraltar—Maltese, Englishmen, Romans, Venetians, Livornese, Sardinians, and Dalmatians.

From The Dead Command From the Spanish Los Muertos Mandan by Douglas, Frances

Another time a boat, under command of Lieutenant Decatur, came under the guns of the xebec, and the Spaniards on the deck hailed him with insulting words.

From Stories of Our Naval Heroes Every Child Can Read by Hurlbut, Jesse Lyman