They sailed as if they were stark mad; they never took in areef in the sail, and when the seas filled the boat, they sailed her up on the back of a wave till she stood nearly on end, the water rushing out over her stern as out of a spout.
"When the day arrived that the boy was to be skipper, the weather was calm and fine, but he called all men toreef sails, so the ship had scarcely any sail on her."
1970 July–December, Margaret Quilty,RollerReefing Made Easy,Boating,page 63,
Be sure the blocks are securely mounted—they carry a fairish load when the sail isreefed.
If both reefing line and main halyard are led to the cockpit, even singlehandedreefing is a breeze.
1995, David Seidman,The Complete Sailor: Learning the Art of Sailing,page104:
Mains are made smaller byreefing. This can be done by rolling up the sail around the boom, or by the more traditional method of tying down a panel along the foot.
The reefing system for a mainsail must be designed to operate efficiently under adverse conditions and to provide proper sail shape whenreefed.
(Australia) To pull or yank strongly, especially in relation tohorse riding.
1986, Jan Wositzky,Me and Phar Lap: The Remarkable Life of Tommy Woodcock, published2011,page49:
And when the Cup came on he stirred them up ′round the barrier and he flew out of the barrier and he pulled andreefed and pulled andreefed and Lewis didn′t let him settle down until about three furlongs from home and when he did settle the horse was all out of stride and he went back through the field a fair bit.
1994, Herb Wharton,Cattle Camp: Murrie Drovers and Their Stories, published2010,page73:
Alf told me that one young white stockman, eager to impress the girls, went outside and mounted his horse, then began showing off his prowess, racing past the pub, wheeling andreefing his horse up and down the street, yackeyeing and whooping, flogging his horse with a battered old hat and always turning towards the pub to see if the girls were watching these feats of horsemanship.
2002,Alex Miller,Journey to the Stone Country, Allen & Unwin, published2003, page76:
Hereefed on the handbrake and sat smoking his cigarette, gazing out through the windscreen at the driveway.
2007, Marion Houldsworth,Maybe It′ll Rain Tomorrow, published2012,page104:
[…]head stockman would say ‘Cut one out but take him at a walk.′ And if you could get that beast out withoutreefing your horse around, the head stockman – he′d be a pretty cluey old coot - he′s watching that horse′s ears more than what you were doing.
(slang) To manipulate thelining of a person'spocket in order tosteal the contents unnoticed.
Myron M. Stearns,So You Lost Your Pocketbook?, in1940,The Rotarian (volume 56, number 2, page 39)
This was done by "reefing." He put two fingers just inside the opening and lifted the lining a trifle. Although I watched his hands, I could feel nothing, so gently did his fingers work.Reefing a couple of times, he lifted my handkerchief, as he might have taken out anything else.
