luff
verbEtymology From Old French lof. Collins English Dictionary states that this word is ultimately derived from Middle Dutch loef. Ellert Ekwall's Shakspere's Vocabulary: its etymological elements (1903) related this verb and loof instead to the East Frisian verb lofen, lufen, which would make it cognate to the French term lover.
- I thought how my life is like a little boat and I must hold the tiller steady against the buffeting of wind and waves, and how sometimes, like this morning, I lose my hold somehow and the sail luffs helplessly and the little vessel wallows, turning this way and that in the swell.1993, John Banville, Ghosts:
2
Nautical, Transport Of sailing vessels To bring the ship's head up closer to the wind. (Alternatively luff up)
- "Helm there! Luff, luff a point! So; steady, man, steady!"1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick:
4
Engineering, Mechanical, Mechanical engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences To alter the vertical angle of the jib of a crane so as to bring it level with the load.
- The tower is mounted on a slewing platform, which also carries the power plant and the counterweights, while the jib is supported and luffed by fixed pendant ropes.1999, Howard I. Shapiro, Jay P. Shapiro, Lawrence K. Shapiro, Cranes and Derricks, →ISBN, page 95:
- Derived terms
- luff alee, luffing crane, luff round, luff tackle, luff up, luff upon luff