becalm

[ bih-kahm ]

/ bɪˈkɑm /

to deprive (a sailing vessel) of the wind necessary to move it; subject to a calm: The schooner was becalmed in the horse latitudes for two weeks.

Archaic. to calm; pacify.

Origin of becalm

First recorded in 1550–60; be- + calm

bebington, beboer, bebop, bebryces, bec., becalm, becalmed, became, becard, because, beccafico

We were becalmed, and in the doldrums, with not a breath of air.

The Flying Bo'sun |Arthur Mason
The day being unusually fine, Mr. Denison noticed that the sloop was still in sight, becalmed a mile or two off Gibraltar Point.

Reminiscences of a Canadian Pioneer for the last Fifty Years |Samuel Thompson
They were often becalmed and took months to cross the ocean.

The Glories of Ireland |Edited by Joseph Dunn and P.J. Lennox
You know the world and life as they really are, and not as they appear to us here, becalmed on the shores of the sea.

The House on the Moor, v. 1/3 |Mrs. Oliphant

You are quite out in your reckoning, and becalmed in a fog; but I shall soon blow it away.

Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 18 |Alexander Leighton

becalmed

/ (bɪˈkɑːmd) /

(of a sailing boat or ship) motionless through lack of wind