caravel

American  

[kar-uh-vel] / ˈkær əˌvɛl /

noun

1. a small Spanish or Portuguese sailing vessel of the Middle Ages and later, usually lateen-rigged on two or three masts.

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caravel British  

/ ˈkærəˌvɛl /

noun

1. a two- or three-masted sailing ship, esp one with a broad beam, high poop deck, and lateen rig that was used by the Spanish and Portuguese in the 15th and 16th centuries

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Etymology

Origin of caravel

1520–30; < Middle French car ( a ) velle < Portuguese caravela, equivalent to cárav ( o ) kind of ship (< Late Latin carabus a small wicker boat < Greek kárabos skiff, crayfish) + -ela diminutive suffix

Explanation

A caravel was a European ship with triangular sails used from the 15th to 17th centuries. Two of Christopher Columbus's ships, Niña and the Pinta, were caravels. The caravel was popular with Portuguese and Spanish explorers because it was light and agile, with lateen sails designed for speed and able to head directly into the wind. Sailors could guide a small caravel along the shore, but this type of ship was also sturdy enough for the open sea. Caravel is from the Portuguese caravela, "small vessel," derived from a Latin word meaning "small wicker boat covered with leather" and the Greek karabos, "beetle."

Example Sentences

The caravel was used by many explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 10, 2017

The ships, owned by the Columbus Foundation, based in the British Virgin Islands, serves as a sailing museum to educate the public about the kind of Portuguese ship called the caravel.

From Washington Times • Jun. 10, 2017

They’d rather have been talking about the new soccer stadium going up at the edge of downtown, its great steel beams pushing into the sky, curving like the frame of some ancient caravel.

From Washington Post • Jun. 16, 2016

He draped saffron chiffon beneath the skylight, and hung a lantern shaped like a caravel.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 13, 2015

On each table there is a clever centerpiece—a little caravel with tissue sails and lighted candles for masts, a perfect souvenir for Mate.

From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez