to lie to
Preserved but no longer current.
To stop the progress of a vessel at sea by reducing the sails and counter- bracing the yards; hence, to cease from doing something.
Dừng tiến trình của một tàu trên biển bằng cách giảm cánh buồm và chống lại cánh buồm
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Examples
Tatoeba sentence #13585786 (CC BY 2.0 FR, tatoeba.org, retrieved 2026-07-31)
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 lie to” mean?
To stop the progress of a vessel at sea by reducing the sails and counter- bracing the yards; hence, to cease from doing something.
Is “to lie to” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.