a term in the west of England for the straw used by thatchers, which is wheat straw finely combed, consisting of stiff, unbruised, and unbroken stalks of great length, carefully separated from the straw used for fodder by the thresher, and bound in sheaves or bunches, each of which weighs 28lb. and are sold from 2½s. to 3½s. per hundred bunches, according to the season. This is a great improvement in the art of thatching, as it gives a finish to the work which cannot be attained by straw, rough and tumbled together, without any separation of the long and short: it is also a readier mode of working.

a term in navigation. When there is a great gale of wind, they commonly roll up part of the sail below, that by this means it may become the narrower, and not draw so much wind; which contracting or taking up the sail they call a reef, or reefing the sail: so also when a topmast is sprung, as they call it, that is when it is cracked, or almost broken in the cap, they cut off the lower piece that was near broken off, and setting the other part, now much shorter, in the step again, they call it a reefed topmast.