to keep the weather of
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
To get round, or get the better of, A phrase from the seaman's vocabulary.
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 keep the weather of” mean?
To get round, or get the better of, A phrase from the seaman's vocabulary.
Is “to keep the weather of” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.