sail close to the wind
UK/seɪl ˈkləʊs tə‿ðə ˈwɪnd/US/seɪl ˈkloʊs tə‿ðə ˈwɪnd/
sail close to the wind verb: to sail in a direction close to that from which the wind is blowing, while still making headway.
Verb
sail close to the wind (third-person singular simple present sails close to the wind, present participle sailing close to the wind, simple past and past participle sailed close to the wind)
- To sail in a direction close to that from which the wind is blowing, while still making headway.
- As the Syrene vvas ſeen to fall to leevvard in the afternoon, the ſignal vvas made to her to ſail as cloſe to the vvind as poſſible.1781, [Mouffle d’Angerville], “Appendix. Secret Expedition, from 1758 to 1759.”, in J. O. Justamond, transl., The Private Life of Lewis XV. […], volume IV, London: […] Charles Dilly, […], →OCLC, page...
- A vessel sails close to the wind, when her head is just so near the wind as to fill the sails without shaking them.1846, Arthur Young, James Brisbane, “CLOSE”, in Nautical Dictionary: Containing Explanations of Terms and Phrases used in the Building and Outfit of Sailing Vessels and Steam-ships; in Seamanship...
- To behave in a manner that is on the verge of being dangerous, illegal, or improper.
- But he received only indifferent remuneration, in those days, and found himself to "sail close to the wind," to meet his current expenses.1876, Geo[rge] P. Burnham, “How Reuben Downer Made and Saved It”, in A Hundred Thousand Dollars in Gold. How to Make It. […], Springfield, Mass.: W. J. Holland, →OCLC, page 198
- We have to bear in mind that the present Conventional Tariff sails close to wind as a protection for French industry, and that anything like a serious increase would amount to absolute prohibition.1881 June, “The Present Aspect of Our Commercial Relations with France”, in The Nautical Magazine: A Journal of Papers on Subjects Connected with Maritime Affairs, volume L (New Series), number VI...
Forms of sail close to the wind
| third-person singular present | sails close to the wind |
|---|---|
| present participle | sailing close to the wind |
| past participle | sailed close to the wind |
| past | sailed close to the wind |
Origin of sail close to the wind
Sense 2 (“to behave in a manner on the verge of being dangerous, illegal, or improper”) derives from the fact that to sail an old-fashioned sailing ship close to the direction the wind was blowing from was risky because a small change in the wind direction could fill the sails and push them against the mast, potentially breaking it.
Words that rhyme with sail close to the wind
Questions about sail close to the wind
- What does sail close to the wind mean?
- Sail close to the wind means to sail in a direction close to that from which the wind is blowing, while still making headway.
- What part of speech is sail close to the wind?
- Sail close to the wind is a verb.
- How do you pronounce sail close to the wind?
- Sail close to the wind is pronounced /seɪl ˈkləʊs tə‿ðə ˈwɪnd/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of sail close to the wind?
- The past tense of sail close to the wind is sailed close to the wind.
Words near sail close to the wind in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sail close to the wind (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-sail close to the wind.ogg.
Cite this entry: “sail close to the wind.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sail_close_to_the_wind. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.