to sail before the wind
To prosper, to go on swimmingly, to meet with great success, to go as smoothly and rapidly as a ship before the wind.
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to sail close to the wind
In nautical use, to keep the vessel's head as near the quarter from which the wind is blowing as possible while keeping the sails filled; figuratively, to go to the very verge of what decency or pro- priety allow; to act so as just to escape the letter of the law.
to sail large
A nautical phrase for to sail with the wind not straight astern, but "abaft the beam.
to sail under false colours
To act hypo- critically; to try to attain your object by appearing to be other than you are. The term is a nautical one, and refers to the practice of pirates approaching their unsuspecting prey with false colours at the mast.
to salt a mine
To introduce pieces of ore, etc., into the workings so as to delude pros- pective purchasers or shareholders into the idea that a worthless mine is in reality a profitable investment.
to sauce
To season, intermix. Folly sauced with discretion. — Troilus and Ores- sida, i, 2.
to save one's bacon
To save oneself from injury ; to escape loss. The allusion may be to the care taken by our forefathers to save from the numerous dogs that frequented their houses the bacon which was laid up for winter. But here I say the Turks were much mistaken, Who, hating hogs, yet wished to save their bacon. BYRON: Don Juan, vii, 42.
to save one's face
Narrowly to avoid almost inevitable disgrace, disaster, or discomfiture.
to save one's skin
To get off with one's life. To sell the skin before you have caught the bear. To count your chickens before they are hatched.
to say ditto
To endorse somebody else's expressed opinion.
to say nothing of
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
to say the devil's paternoster
To grumble; to rail at providence. To whip the devil round the stump. An American phrase meaning to enjoy the fruits of evil-doing without having to suffer the penalty; to dodge a difficulty dishonestly but successfully.
to scamper
To run away hastily.
to score a bull
See BULL'S-EYE. To take the bull by the horns. To attack or encounter a threatened danger fearlessly; to go forth boldly to meet a difficulty.
to scour the cramp-ring
To be put into fetters: to be imprisoned. The allusion is obvious.
to scrape along
To get along in the world with difficulty, finding it hard to "make both ends meet.
to scrape through
To pass an examination, etc., "by the skin of one's teeth," just to escape failure.
to screw
To copulate. A female screw; a common prostitute. To screw one up; to exact upon one in a bargain or reckoning.
to screw oneself up to it
To force oneself to face it, etc.; to get oneself into the right frame of mind for doing some unpleasant or difficult job.
to see eye to eye
To be of precisely the same opinion; to think both alike.
to see life
To "knock about" town, where life may be seen at its fullest; to move in smart or fast society.
to see red
To give way to excessive passion or anger; to be violently moved, run amok.
to see the red light
To be aware of approach- ing disaster. The phrase comes from the rail- way-signal, where the red light signifies danger.
to sell a person up
To dispose of his goods by order of the court because he cannot pay his debts, the proceeds going to his creditors.
to sell by the candle
A species of sale by auction. A pin is thrust through a candle about an inch from the top, and bidding goes on till the candle is burnt down to the pin; when the pin drops into the candlestick the last bidder is declared the purchaser.
to sell short
A Stock Exchange phrase meaning to sell stock that one does not at the moment possess on the chance that before the date of delivery the price will have fallen; the same as "selling for a fall," or "selling a bear.
To send a sow to Minerva
To teach your grandmother how to suck eggs, to instruct one Spade
To send me to Dulcarnon
To daze with puzzles. Dulce Domum (dtil' si do' mum). A school holiday song: the words mean — not, as often supposed, "sweet home," but — "the sweet (sound of the word) 'home'.
to send one packing
To dismiss him sum- marily and without ceremony.
To send one to Coventry
To take no notice of him; to make him feel that he is in disgrace by having no dealings with him. Cp.
to send the cap round
To make a collec- tion. This is from the custom of street musicians, acrobats, etc^of sending a cap round among the onlookers to collect their pennies.
to serve a writ on
To deliver into the hands of the person concerned a legal writ.
to serve its turn
To be appropriate^— the right thing in the right place; often said of something that only barely meets its require- ments.
to serve one's time
To hold an office or appointment for the full period allowed; to go through one's apprenticeship; also, to serve one's sentence in prison.
to serve someone hand and foot
To be at his beck and call; to be his slave.
to serve the same sauce
To retaliate; to give as good as you take; to serve in the same manner.
to set off to advantage
To display a thing in its best light, put the best construction on it. Perhaps a phrase from the jewellers' craft.
to set on his legs
So to provide for a man that he is able to earn his living without further help.
to set one's teeth on edge
To give one the horrors; to induce a tingling or grating sensation in one's teeth, as from acids or harsh noises.
To set the Thames on fire
See THAMES. We do not fire first, gentlemen. According to tradition this very chivalrous reply was made to Lord Charles Hay (in command of the Guards) at the opening of the battle of Fontenoy (1745) by the French Marquis d'Auteroche after the former had advanced from the British lines and invited the French commander to order his men to fire.
to settle
To knock down or stun any one. We settled the cull by a stroke on his nob; we stunned the fellow by a blow on the head.
to settle out of court
A case, almost in- variably involving damages, which is settled by the respective litigants' solicitors, before it is called to court, agreeing on a sum to be paid by the litigant who admits himself to be in the wrong.
to shadow
To follow about like a shadow, especially as a detective, with the object of spying out all one's doings.
to shake hands
To salute by giving a hand received into your own a shake; to bid adieu. Fortune and Antony part here; even here Do we shake hands.
to shake one's sides
To be convulsed with laughter; cp. Milton's "Laughter holding both his sides" (L?
to sham abram
To pretend sickness.
to shamble
To walk awkwardly. Shamble-legged: one that walks wide, and shuffles about his feet.
to shark up
To get a number of people, etc., together promiscuously, without consideration of their fitness.
to shave a customer
A draper's expression for charging more for an article than it is worth; because, so it is said, when the manager sees a chance of doing this he strokes his chin as a sign to the assistant that he may fleece the customer all he can.
to shave an egg
To attempt to extort the uttermost farthing; to "skin a flint"
to shed crocodile tears
to show false or insincere sadness
to shepherd
To guard and guide carefully as a shepherd does his flock; in colloquial use, to follow and spy on as a detective.
to sherk
To evade or disappoint: to sherk one's duty.
to sherry
To run away: sherry off.
to shift one's ground
To try a different plan; to change one's argument or the basis of one's reasoning.
to ship the dead lights
To fasten the shutter over the cabin window to keep out the sea when a gale is expected.
to shoe a goose
To engage in a silly and fruitless task.
to shoe one's mule
To appropriate moneys committed to one's trust.
to shoe the anchor
To cover the flukes of an anchor with a broad triangular piece of plank, in order that the anchor may have a stronger hold in soft ground.
to shoe the cohbler
To give a quick peculiar movement with the front foot in sliding.
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