Close-Hauled
Black's Law Dictionary · Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910
Black's Law Dictionary
In admiralty law, this nautical term means the arrangement or trim of a vessel's sails when she endeavors to make a progress in the nearest direction possible towards that point of the compass from which the wind blows. But a vessel may be considered as close-hauled, although she is not quite so near to the wind as she could possibly lie.
Chadwick v. Packet Co., 6 El. & Bl. 771.