Xebec
WiktionaryText
Etymology
Either from French chébec, from Spanish xabeque (modern jabeque) or Catalan xabec, ultimately from Arabic (šabbāk) ‘small warship, fishing boat’.
Noun
- A small, three-masted Mediterranean transport ship
- 1963: Winter. The green xebec whose figurehead was Astarte, goddess of sexual love, tacked slowly into the Grand Harbour. — Thomas Pynchon, V.