to burn one's boats
Preserved but no longer current.
To cut oneself off from all means of hope of retreat. The allusion is to Julius Csesar and other generals, who burned- their boats or ships when they invaded a foreign country, in order that their soldiers might feel that they must either con- quer the country or die, as retreat would be impossible.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to burn one's boats” mean?
To cut oneself off from all means of hope of retreat. The allusion is to Julius Csesar and other generals, who burned- their boats or ships when they invaded a foreign country, in order that their soldiers might feel that they must either con- quer the country or die, as retreat would be impossible.
Is “to burn one's boats” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.