Synonyms

set sail

Idioms

Also, make sail. Begin a voyage on water, as in Dad rented a yacht, and we're about to set sail for the Caribbean, or We'll make sail for the nearest port. These expressions, dating from the early 1500s, originally meant “put the sails in position to catch the wind,” and hence cause the vessel to move.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

At the Port of Houston this past week, a crane loaded trucks, generators and machinery onto the Roibeira as it prepared to set sail to Venezuela, the second vessel from the shipping company International Frontier Forwarders to head to the South American nation.

From Barron's

Elisha and his remaining crew had spent eighty-four days crossing over ice, until they found open waters and set sail on the smaller whaling boats.

From Literature

The boat, carrying several former British military officers and four Chagossian men, set sail from Sri Lanka and took nearly two weeks to arrive, anchoring Monday morning about 150 yards offshore from the Île du Coin, a half-square-mile island.

From The Wall Street Journal

It had set sail from Murmansk in northern Russia and was flying under a Comoros flag, officials said.

From BBC

It had set sail from Russia's Far East for China in early November.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023