Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1600-1700
Origin: reef 'part of a sail tied up' (14-21 centuries), from Old Norse rif

reef

2 verb
     
Related topics: Water
reef2 also reef in [transitive] technical
TTW to tie up part of a sail in order to make it smaller
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
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