A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2002 (DOST Vol. XI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Upsail(e)s, n. pl. [Sail(l n.1] With upsail(e)s, with sails hoisted, full speed ahead. Only in Rutherford, in fig. context. —1637 Rutherford Lett. (1664) 346.
I wait on … till the Lord send a full sea, that with up-sailes I may lift up Christ 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1894) 397.
The devil, and the lusts of a deceiving world, and sin, are upon horseback, and follow with upsails 1638 Rutherford Lett. (1894) 553.
Consider how fair before the wind some do ply with up-sails and white … And yet … are quickly broken upon the rocks
