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Did you know that the word luff was actually another word for auxillery oar??
(to creep around an obstacle or to deliberately luff up (push upwind) a weather side vessel, which might otherwise take the wind out of your sails as she overtook and masked you from the wind). The luff is the front edge of a sail, the first part of a sail which meets the wind. Loef is a Dutch word meaning windward. A-luff (or aloof) describes a vessel which may be sailing close hauled (sails choke-a-block) along a lee shore
luff Pronunciation (lf)n.1.a. The act of sailing closer into the wind.b. The forward side of a fore-and-aft sail.2.Archaic The fullest part of the bow of a ship.v. luffed, luff·ing, luffsv.intr.1. To steer a sailing vessel closer into the wind, especially with the sails flapping.2. To flap while losing wind. Used of a sail.v.tr.1. To sail (a vessel, such as a yacht) closer into the wind during a race so as to prevent an opponent's craft from passing on the windward side.2. To raise or lower (the boom of a crane or derrick).