set sail

Idioms  

1. Also, make sail. Begin a voyage on water, as in Dad rented a yacht, and we're about to set sail for the Caribbean, or We'll make sail for the nearest port. These expressions, dating from the early 1500s, originally meant “put the sails in position to catch the wind,” and hence cause the vessel to move.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

set sail

A century ago this month, the Royal Research Ship William Scoresby set sail from Humber Dock, in Hull, on a voyage to the southern oceans.

From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026

It set sail from the German island of Rügen, headed for the middle of the Baltic.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

The intrepid pair will then set sail for the Netherlands, then on to Norway.

From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026

The Mentor had set sail from New Bedford, Mass., the whaling capital of the United States, in July 1831, with a complement of 21 men led by Capt. Edward Barnard.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026

Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.

From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan