sail close to the wind
English edit
Pronunciation edit
Audio (AU) (file)
Verb edit
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)
- (nautical) To sail in a direction close to that from which the wind is blowing, but still making headway
- (idiomatic) To behave in a manner that is on the verge of being dangerous, improper or illegal
- 2022 May 28, Phil McCulty, “Liverpool 0-1 Real Madrid”, in BBC Sport:
- Real have sailed close to the wind in the Champions League this season, most notably when they needed two goals to survive against Manchester City in the semi-final with 90 minutes gone.
Translations edit
nautical: to sail close to the direction from which the wind is blowing
See also edit
Further reading edit
- “sail close to the wind”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “sail close to the wind”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
- “sail close to the wind” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.