strike sail

Verb

strike sail (third-person singular simple present strikes sail, present participle striking sail, simple past struck sail, past participle struck sail or (rare or archaic) stricken sail)

1. (archaic) To lower the sails (in preparation for dropping anchor, to salute or signal submission, in sudden gusts of wind, etc.).
   • […] at the last, famine and other necessities, caused them in the ende to strike sayle and let fall anker.1568, André Thevet, translated by Thomas Hacket, The New Found World, or Antarctike, London: Thomas Hacket, Chapter, page 62
   • […] a ship which hath struck Sail, will yet goe on with the winde it had before, for a while,1627, John Donne, Sermon 24 in Fifty Sermons, London: M.F. et al., Volume 2, 1649, p. 202

   Antonyms:

   hoist sail

2. (figuratively, obsolete) To acknowledge one's inferiority (to another person); to abate pretension.
   • (obsolete)
   • O that the living Harry had the temper
     Of he, the worst of these three gentlemen!
     How many nobles then should hold their places
     That must strike sail to spirits of vile sort!c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...

   Synonyms:

   defer, vail