{{Short description|Commercial sailing ship with multiple masts and rig configurations}} {{Other uses|Windjammer (disambiguation)}} {{Main|Iron-hulled sailing ship}} [[Image:Herzogin Cecilie SLV AllenGren.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.3|Four-masted, iron-hulled barque ''Herzogin Cecilie''—one of the fastest windjammers built]]
A '''windjammer''' is a commercial sailing ship with multiple masts, however rigged. The informal term "windjammer" arose during the transition from the Age of Sail to the Age of Steam during the 19th century. The Oxford English Dictionary records the term "wind jammer" with reference to a ship from 1878 and nautical use of "windjamming" from 1886.<ref>{{oed | windjammer}}</ref> The word has evolved to include passenger cruise ships.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Laird |first=Scott |date=2022-04-12 |title=A Windjammer Cruise on Penobscot Bay Is the Best Way to Experience Maine's Coast |url=https://www.cntraveler.com/story/maine-windjammer-cruises-on-penobscot-bay |access-date=2022-07-13 |website=Condé Nast Traveler |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Crowell |first=Ed |title=Barefoot pirate : the tall ships and tales of Windjammer |date=2003 |publisher=Orion Press |others=Robert W. Schachner |isbn=0-7570-0128-9 |location=[New York] |oclc=52985865}}</ref>
==Etymology== [[File:Luther Little1917.jpg|thumb|A New England windjammer—the ''Luther Little'', a four-masted schooner—just after its construction in 1917]] The word "windjammer" has a variety of associations, both nautical and not. In the late 19th century the term was pejorative, as used by sailors aboard steamships.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|title=wind, n.1|url=https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/229181|work=OED Online|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-06-25}}</ref>
* In 1892, ''Rudder Magazine'' said in a story, "The deck hands on the liners contemptuously refer to [sailing vessels] as 'wind-jammers'."<ref name=":0" /> * In 1917, the American Dialect Society recorded residents of the U.S. state of Maine referring to fore-and-aft sailing vessels as "windjammers" in a list of regional word usages.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c1NFAQAAIAAJ&q=windjammer+etymology&pg=PA6|title=Dialect Notes|last=Chase|first=George D.|date=1917|publisher=American Dialect Society|series=1|volume=IV|language=en|chapter=Lists from Maine}}</ref> *''The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea'' calls ''windjammer'' "a non-nautical name by which square-rigged sailing ships are sometimes known".<ref name=":2">{{Citation|last1=Dear|first1=I. C. B. DearI C. B.|title=Windjammer|date=2007-01-01|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/abstract/10.1093/acref/9780199205684.001.0001/acref-9780199205684-e-2687|work=The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea|editor-last=Kemp|editor-first=Peter|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780199205684.001.0001|isbn=9780199205684|access-date=2019-06-24|last2=Kemp|first2=Peter|editor2-last=Dear|editor2-first=I. C. B.|url-access=subscription}}</ref> * ''The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military'' calls ''windjammer'' "a merchant sailing ship".<ref name=":3">{{Citation|title=Windjammer|date=2001|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/abstract/10.1093/acref/9780199891580.001.0001/acref-9780199891580-e-9168|work=The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780199891580.001.0001|access-date=2019-06-24|isbn=9780199891580|url-access=subscription}}</ref> *The following languages have adopted "windjammer" as a loanword from English in reference to sailing ships: ** Czech: ''windjammer''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.bab.la/dictionary/english-czech/windjammer|title=windjammer - Czech translation - bab.la English-Czech dictionary|website=en.bab.la|access-date=2019-06-28}}</ref> ** Dutch: ''windjammer''<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Van Veen|first1=Pieter A. F.|title=Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden|last2=Van der Sijs|first2=Nicoline|publisher=Van Dale Lexicografie|year=1997|location=Utrecht Antwerpen|chapter=Windjammer}}</ref> ** German: ''Windjammer''<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EWIKgjGxVgsC&q=%22Windjammer%22+Deutsch&pg=PT262|title=Mit Deutsch durchs Jahr: Sprachkalender Deutsch|last1=Hueber|last2=Bönzli|first2=Werner|date=2009|publisher=Hueber Verlag|isbn=9783190079209|language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ss83DwAAQBAJ&q=%22Windjammer%22+Deutsch&pg=PA240|title=Thematisches Wörterbuch Deutsch-Englisch (2): Aufbauwortschatz|last=Penzkofer|first=Markus|date=2017-09-27|publisher=BoD – Books on Demand|isbn=9783744822619|language=de}}</ref> ** Japanese: ウィンドジャマー<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CEFKDwAAQBAJ&q=Japanese+dictionary+%22Windjammer%22&pg=PA2400|title=Essential 120000 English-Japanese Words Dictionary|last=Nguyen|first=Nam H.|date=2018-02-03|publisher=Nam H Nguyen|language=ja}}</ref> ** Polish: ''windjammer''<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RlkmAAAAMAAJ&q=Polish+dictionary+%22Windjammer%22|title=Maritime dictionary Polish-English|last1=Milewski|first1=Szymon|last2=Zadrożna|first2=T.|date=1965|publisher=Wydawn. Naukowo-Techniczne|language=en}}</ref> ** Russian: винджаммер<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://glosbe.com/|title=Винджаммер - translation - Russian-English Dictionary|website=Glosbe|language=en|access-date=2019-06-27}}</ref> ** Serbo-Croatian: виндјамер or ''vindjamer''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://glosbe.com/|title=Виндјамер - translation - Serbian-English Dictionary|website=Glosbe|language=en|access-date=2019-06-27}}</ref> ** Ukrainian: вінджамер
*''Green's Dictionary of Slang'' has a variety of non-nautical definitions for the term.<ref>{{Citation|last=Green|first=Jonathon|title=Windjammer|date=2011|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/abstract/10.1093/acref/9780199829941.001.0001/acref-9780199829941-e-51541|work=Green's Dictionary of Slang|publisher=Chambers Harrap Publishers|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780199829941.001.0001|isbn=9780199829941|access-date=2019-06-24|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
==Examples== {{multiple image <!-- Layout parameters --> | align = <!-- right (default), left, center, none --> | direction = vertical | background color = <!-- box background --> | width = 150 | caption_align = center <!-- Header --> | header_background = | header_align = <!-- center (default), left, right --> | header =Windjammers <!--image 1--> | image1 = Sail plan ship.svg | caption1 = Full-rigged ship <!--image 2--> | image2 = Sail plan barque.svg | caption2 = Barque <!--image 3--> | image3 = Sail plan barquentine.svg | caption3 = Barquentine <!--image 4--> | image4 = Sail plan schoonerx3.jpg | caption4 = Schooner <!-- Footer --> | footer_background = | footer_align = | footer = Showing three-masted examples, progressing from square sails on each to all fore-and-aft sails on each. }} Any of the following ships may be called a "windjammer": *Barque<ref name=":3" /> *Barquentine<ref name=":3" /> *Brig<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> *Brigantine<ref name=":3" /> *Clipper ship<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0UAkDwAAQBAJ&q=windjammer|title=Windjammer|last=Simpson|first=Paul W.|date=2017-05-11|publisher=Lulu Press, Inc|isbn=9780244305727|language=en}}</ref> *Full-rigged ship<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> *Iron-hulled sailing ship<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qbGNDQAAQBAJ&q=Iron-hulled+windjammer&pg=PT14|title=Bells from Shipwrecks -after 1830: Victorian and Modern Ship's Bells|last=Historian)|first=Tom Bennett (Shipwreck|date=2016-11-24|publisher=TOM Bennett|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IYlECgAAQBAJ&q=Iron-hulled+windjammer&pg=PA146|title=Uncommon Contexts: Encounters Between Science and Literature, 1800–1914|last=Marsden|first=Ben|date=2015-07-28|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317320357|language=en}}</ref> *Sail-powered cruise ship<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rDEDAAAAMBAJ&q=windjammer+etymology&pg=PA31|title=Cruise Travel|last=Williams|first=Deborah|date=September 1999|publisher=Cruise Travel|language=en|chapter=Windjammin' in Maine}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UTEDAAAAMBAJ&q=windjammer+origin&pg=PA43|title=Cruise Travel|last=Kerr|first=Jim|date=September 1994|publisher=Cruise Travel|language=en|chapter=Fantome—Setting sail for romance with Windjammer Barefoot Cruises}}</ref> *Schooner<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1" />
==In literature== {{wiktionary | windjammer}} Windjammers have figured prominently in both historical and fictional literature. Some examples include:
*{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/windjammers0000alle|url-access=registration|location=Amsterdam |title=The Windjammers|last1=Allen|first1=Oliver E.|year=1978|publisher=Time-Life Books|isbn=9780705406253|language=en}} * {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WW0sAAAAYAAJ&q=basil+lubbock+the+last+of+the+windjammers|title=The Last of the Windjammers|last=Lubbock|first=Basil|date=1953|publisher=Brown, Son & Ferguson|language=en}} *{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W32XCwAAQBAJ&q=windjammer+in+German&pg=PA43|title=German Commerce Raiders 1914–18|last=Noppen|first=Ryan K.|date=2015|publisher=Bloomsbury|isbn=9781472809513|language=en}} * {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KtwsTylXZ-AC&q=windjammer|title=The House of Windjammer|last=Richardson|first=V. A.|date=2006|publisher=Bloomsbury USA|isbn=9781582349848|language=en}} * {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I-A1AQAAMAAJ&q=Runciman+windjammers+and+sea+tramps&pg=PR6|title=Windjammers and Sea Tramps|last=Runciman|first=Walter Sr.|date=1902|publisher=At the Unicorn|location=London|language=en}} *{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0UAkDwAAQBAJ&q=windjammer|title=Windjammer|last=Simpson|first=Paul W.|date=2017|publisher=Lulu|isbn=9780244305727|language=en}}{{sps|date=August 2025}} *{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wVd8CgAAQBAJ&q=windjammer+in+German&pg=PT140|title=The Sea Devil: The Story Of Count Felix Von Luckner, The German War Raider|last=Thomas|first=Lowell|date=2013|publisher=Read Books|isbn=9781446548196|language=en}}
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==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Sailing Vessels and Rigs}}
Category:Merchant sailing ship types Category:Sailing ships Category:Tall ships Category:19th-century neologisms Category:Windjammers