to sail before the wind
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
To prosper, to go on swimmingly, to meet with great success, to go as smoothly and rapidly as a ship before the wind.
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 sail before the wind” mean?
To prosper, to go on swimmingly, to meet with great success, to go as smoothly and rapidly as a ship before the wind.
Is “to sail before the wind” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.