Schoon"er (?), n. [See the Note below.
Cf. Shun.] (Naut.) Originally, a small, sharp-built
vessel, with two masts and fore-and-aft rig. Sometimes it carried
square topsails on one or both masts and was called a topsail
schooner. About 1840, longer vessels with three masts, fore-and-
aft rigged, came into use, and since that time vessels with four masts
and even with six masts, so rigged, are built. Schooners with more
than two masts are designated three-masted schooners, four-
masted schooners, etc. See Illustration in
Appendix.
&fist; The first schooner ever constructed is said to have
been built in Gloucester, Massachusetts, about the year 1713, by a
Captain Andrew Robinson, and to have received its name from the
following trivial circumstance: When the vessel went off the stocks
into the water, a bystander cried out,"O, how she scoons!"
Robinson replied, " A scooner let her be;" and, from that time,
vessels thus masted and rigged have gone by this name. The word
scoon is popularly used in some parts of New England to denote
the act of making stones skip along the surface of water. The Scottish
scon means the same thing. Both words are probably allied to
the Icel. skunda, skynda, to make haste, hurry, AS.
scunian to avoid, shun, Prov. E. scun. In the New
England records, the word appears to have been originally written
scooner. Babson, in his "History of Gloucester," gives the
following extract from a letter written in that place Sept. 25, 1721,
by Dr. Moses Prince, brother of the Rev. Thomas Prince, the annalist
of New England: "This gentleman (Captain Robinson) was first contriver
of schooners, and built the first of that sort about eight
years since."
Schoon"er, n. [D.] A large goblet
or drinking glass, -- used for lager beer or ale. [U.S.]
Schoon"er (?), n. [See the Note below.
Cf. Shun.] (Naut.) Originally, a small, sharp-built
vessel, with two masts and fore-and-aft rig. Sometimes it carried
square topsails on one or both masts and was called a topsail
schooner. About 1840, longer vessels with three masts, fore-and-
aft rigged, came into use, and since that time vessels with four masts
and even with six masts, so rigged, are built. Schooners with more
than two masts are designated three-masted schooners, four-
masted schooners, etc. See Illustration in
Appendix.
&fist; The first schooner ever constructed is said to have
been built in Gloucester, Massachusetts, about the year 1713, by a
Captain Andrew Robinson, and to have received its name from the
following trivial circumstance: When the vessel went off the stocks
into the water, a bystander cried out,"O, how she scoons!"
Robinson replied, " A scooner let her be;" and, from that time,
vessels thus masted and rigged have gone by this name. The word
scoon is popularly used in some parts of New England to denote
the act of making stones skip along the surface of water. The Scottish
scon means the same thing. Both words are probably allied to
the Icel. skunda, skynda, to make haste, hurry, AS.
scunian to avoid, shun, Prov. E. scun. In the New
England records, the word appears to have been originally written
scooner. Babson, in his "History of Gloucester," gives the
following extract from a letter written in that place Sept. 25, 1721,
by Dr. Moses Prince, brother of the Rev. Thomas Prince, the annalist
of New England: "This gentleman (Captain Robinson) was first contriver
of schooners, and built the first of that sort about eight
years since."
Schoon"er, n. [D.] A large goblet
or drinking glass, -- used for lager beer or ale. [U.S.]
