sail into

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sail

(sāl)

1. Nautical

a. A piece of fabric sewn together and fitted to the spars and rigging of a vessel so as to convert the force of the wind into forward motion of the vessel.

b. The sails of a ship or boat.

c. A narrow fairwater supporting the bridge of a submarine.

2. pl. sail or sails Nautical A sailing vessel.

3. Nautical A trip or voyage in a sailing craft.

4. Something, such as the blade of a windmill, that resembles a sail in form or function.

v. sailed, sail·ing, sails

v.intr.

1. Nautical

a. To move across the surface of water, especially by means of a sailing vessel.

b. To travel by water in a vessel.

c. To start out on such a voyage or journey: Tomorrow we sail for the islands.

d. To operate a sailing craft, especially for sport.

2. To move along or progress smoothly or effortlessly: sailed into the room five minutes late; sailed through the exam; sailed through the red light.

3. To move along through the air: The ball sailed into the stands.

v.tr. Nautical

1. To navigate or manage (a vessel).

2. To voyage upon or across: sail the Pacific.

Phrasal Verb:

sail into

To attack or criticize vigorously: sailed into the workmen for the shoddy job they were doing.

Idiom:

under sail

Nautical With the sails up; sailing.

[Middle English seil, from Old English segl. Sail into, from obsolete sail, to attack, from Middle English sailen, short for assailen; see assail.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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sail

verb

1. To move swiftly:

bolt, bucket, bustle, dart, dash, festinate, flash, fleet, flit, fly, haste, hasten, hurry, hustle, pelt, race, rocket, run, rush, scoot, scour, shoot, speed, sprint, tear, trot, whirl, whisk, whiz, wing, zip, zoom.

Informal: hotfoot, rip.

Slang: barrel, highball.

Chiefly British: nip.

Idioms: get a move on, get cracking, go like lightning, go like the wind, hotfoot it, make haste, make time, make tracks, run like the wind, shake a leg, step on it.

2. To pass quickly and lightly through the air:

dart, float, fly, shoot, skim.

3. To move through the air with or as if with wings:

flap, flit, flitter, flutter, fly, wing.

4. To proceed with ease, especially of expression:

flow, glide, roll.

phrasal verb
sail in

To start work on vigorously:

attack, go at, tackle, wade in (or into).

Idiom: hop to it.

phrasal verb
sail into

To set upon with violent force:

aggress, assail, assault, attack, beset, fall on (or upon), go at, have at, storm, strike.

Informal: light into, pitch into.

Translations

w>sail into

vi +prep obj (inf) person → anfahren; discussion → sich einschalten in (+acc)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

References in periodicals archive ?

That said most classes ban the use of attempts to make a sail into a foil.

Cut & thrust: Anthony Twibill visits some of our leading sail lofts to measure up the latest cuts and composites from some of the top names in sailmaking, asking are these revolutionary developments in sail materials and nautical aerofoil design going to make it to the amateur and recreational sailing market and at what cost?

Team Abu Dhabi will sail into their home port to a hero's welcome on February 15, and take part in in-port short course racing there on February 16.

Team Abu Dhabi joins Sailing Arabia--The Tour

Last year, Japan's space agency launched the world's first solar sail into interplanetary space; its metal-coated membrane unfurled and caught the light to begin sunjamming.