Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Sloop"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Sloop \Sloop\, n.[D. sloep, of uncertain origin. Cf. {Shallop}.]
(Naut.)
A vessel having one mast and fore-and-aft rig, consisting of
a boom-and-gaff mainsail, jibs, staysail, and gaff topsail.
The typical sloop has a fixed bowsprit, topmast, and standing
rigging, while those of a cutter are capable of being readily
shifted. The sloop usually carries a centerboard, and depends
for stability upon breadth of beam rather than depth of keel.
The two types have rapidly approximated since 1880. One
radical distinction is that a slop may carry a centerboard.
See {Cutter}, and Illustration in Appendix.
{Sloop of war}, formerly, a vessel of war rigged either as a
ship, brig, or schooner, and mounting from ten to
thirty-two guns; now, any war vessel larger than a
gunboat, and carrying guns on one deck only.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
sloop
n : a sailing vessel with a single mast set about one third of
the boat's length aft of the bow
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