under bare poles

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Bare \Bare\ (b[^a]r), a. [OE. bar, bare, AS. b[ae]r; akin to D. & G. baar, OHG. par, Icel. berr, Sw. & Dan. bar, Oslav. bos[u^] barefoot, Lith. basas; cf. Skr. bh[=a]s to shine. [root]85.] [1913 Webster]

1.Without clothes or covering; stripped of the usual covering; naked; as, his body is bare; the trees are bare. [1913 Webster]

2.With head uncovered; bareheaded. [1913 Webster]

When once thy foot enters the church, be bare.— Herbert.[1913 Webster]

3.Without anything to cover up or conceal one's thoughts or actions; open to view; exposed. [1913 Webster]

Bare in thy guilt, how foul must thou appear !— Milton.[1913 Webster]

4.Plain; simple; unadorned; without polish; bald; meager. "Uttering bare truth." --Shak. [1913 Webster]

5.Destitute; indigent; empty; unfurnished or scantily furnished; -- used with of (rarely with in) before the thing wanting or taken away; as, a room bare of furniture. "A bare treasury." --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

6.Threadbare; much worn. [1913 Webster]

It appears by their bare liveries that they live by your bare words.— Shak.[1913 Webster]

7.Mere; alone; unaccompanied by anything else; as, a bare majority. "The bare necessaries of life." --Addison. [1913 Webster]

Nor are men prevailed upon by bare words.— South.[1913 Webster]

Under bare poles (Naut.), having no sail set. [1913 Webster]