Emily Dickinson Lexicon

REEF'-TACK-LE, n.

A tackle upon deck, communicating with its pendant, and passing through a block at the top-mast head, and through a hole in the top-sail-yard-arm, is attached to a cringle below the lowest reef; used to pull the skirts of the top-sails close to the extremities of the yards to lighten the labor of reefing. – Mar. Dict.