small rope used on ships, mid-15c., from Old French brail, earlier braiel "belt, leather thong," from Latin bracale "waistbelt," from bracæ "breeches" (plural, see breech [..]

(n) a small net used to draw fish into a boat(n) a small rope (one of several) used to draw a sail in(v) take in a sail with a brail(v) haul fish aboard with brails

To furl or truss a sail by pulling it in towards the mast, or the ropes used to do so.

One of a number of thin lines attached to the leech of a sail for hauling it in. Brailing.

To furl or truss a sail by pulling it in towards the mast, or the ropes used to do so.

To furl or truss a sail by pulling it in towards the mast, or the ropes used to do so.

line used to gather up a sail. In ancient square rigs, a number of brails were used to control the shape of the sail and trim it to suit the point of sail and existing wind conditions. FH2004

In water logging, a system whereby the outermost of several floating logs is held in place with a pike pole and the whole pod moved intot he current by the jet boat.