Also 8–9 -eck, -eque, -ecque; β. 8–9 zebec(k, 9 zobecque. See also CHEBEC. (Altered form of CHEBEC (F. chebec) after Sp. xabeque, now jabeque.] A small three-masted (originally two-masted) vessel, commonly lateen-rigged but with some square sails, used in the Mediterranean, formerly as a ship of war, now as a merchant-sbip.
1756. Gentl. Mag., Aug., 409/2. Capt. Fortunatus Wright, of Liverpool, in the King George privateer off Leghorn, engaged a xebeck which had 280 men on board.
1760. Ann. Reg., Chron., 148/2. An Algerine xebeque of 20 guns … was driven on shore near Penzance.
1762. More, in Phil. Trans., LII. 450. There came a Spanish xebeck from the West,… and … was becalmed.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), s.v., The sails of the xebec are in general similar to those of the polacre, but the hull is extremely different…. The extremity of the stern … projects further behind the counter and buttock than that of any European ship.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, I. 237. Xebec. A small vessel with three masts, navigated in the mediterranean. The fore and main-masts are called block-masts, being short…. The mizen-mast is filled with a topmast, &c.,… and … has been lately added, to keep them better to the wind…. The fore-mast rakes much forward.
1816. Ann. Reg., Gen. Hist., 133/2. A large Tunisian xebeck … putting out two boats, gave a general chase.
a. 1829. I. Taylor, Ship, v. (1846), 118. The xebec very much resembles the galley in shape…, in its triangular sails and low masts. It is the corsair of the Algerines,… and mounts from sixteen to twenty-four guns.
1851. Kipping, Sailmaking (ed. 2), 158. The Spanish xebec has in general a lateen fore, with a square main-sail and mizen.
1884. Miss C. F. Woolson, in Harper’s Mag., Feb., 368/2. All the coasting xebecs and feluccas use them [lateen-sails].
β. 1769. Ann. Reg., Chron., 164/1. A large Algerine zebeck, of 30 guns and 300 men.
1839. Marryat, Phant. Ship, xix. A three-masted zebecque.
1844. Hood, The Key, iv. The last Zebeck that came And moor’d within the Mole.
attrib. and Comb. 1780. Capt. Knowles, in Naval Chron., II. 518. Two Spanish Xebec Ships, polacre rigged.
1801. Ld. Cochrane, ibid., VI. 151. A Spanish xebeck frigate, of 32 guns.
1812. Examiner, 3 May, 280/2. A French xebeck-rigged privateer, of two guns.
