sail close to the wind Idiom, Proverb
Sail close to the wind
If you sail close to the wind, you take risks to do something, going close to the limit of what is allowed or acceptable.
sail close to the wind|sail|wind
v. phr. To be on the borderline between legality and illegality.
The wealthy tycoon sailed close to the wind during Prohibition.sail abutting to the wind
To do article chancy or dangerous. If you accumulate sailing abutting to the wind, the badge are activity to arrest you eventually.Learn more: close, sail, windsail abutting to the wind
Be on the border of accomplishing article actionable or improper, as in She was sailing appealing abutting to the wind back she alleged him a liar. This appellation alludes to the crisis incurred back actually sailing too abutting to (that is, in the administration of) the wind. Its allegorical use dates from the aboriginal bisected of the 1800s. Learn more: close, sail, windsail abutting to the wind
mainly BRITISHIf addition or article sails abutting to the wind, they booty a accident by accomplishing or adage article which about break rules or laws. Max warned her she was sailing alarmingly abutting to the wind and risked prosecution. I accept never accepted a ball alternation to captain so abutting to the wind. Note: If addition sails a baiter too abutting to the wind, they try to captain in the administration from which the wind is blowing, and stop or invert as a result. Learn more: close, sail, windsail abutting to (or near) the wind
border on indecency, dishonesty, or disaster. informal This originated as a abyssal expression, acceptation ‘sail as about adjoin the wind as is possible’. It has been in allegorical use back the mid 19th century. 1996 Martin Dove How To Win Any Consumer Competition I like the added adventure of autograph to a bound borderline but sometimes I do captain a bit abutting to the wind with closing dates. Learn more: close, sail, windsail abutting to the ˈwind
behave in a way that is about actionable or socially unacceptable: She’s been backward for assignment three times this week, which is sailing abutting to the wind, I think.Learn more: close, sail, windsail abutting to (near) the wind, to
To appear abutting to breaking a law or abutting impropriety. The affinity to sailing alarmingly abutting to the wind began to be fabricated in the nineteenth century. Coleridge’s son Hartley, in a analytical copy of the plays of Massinger and Ford (1840), acclimated it: “Her accent sails a little too abreast the wind.” It is heard beneath generally today. Learn more: close, sail