before the wind

1. Driven ahead, hurried, as in The bikers are moving before the wind, so it's hard to tell who will come in first. The literal meaning of this term is nautical, referring to a ship sailing in the same direction as the wind and being propelled forward. Its figurative use dates from the mid-1800s.

Example Sentences

On July 10, the day before the wind changed, the fire had been burning sleepily for a week without any apparent cause for alarm.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Or that few questioned her Ghana trip when she left on Saturday, before the wind warnings turned completely dire.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Firefighters on the Cherokee National Forest, which spans 10 counties along the Tennessee border, are securing containment lines on existing fires before the wind event, the U.S.

Read more on Seattle Times

Open qualifying, posted his 68 in the morning before the wind and the temperatures picked up.

Read more on Washington Times

The downdraft arrived, that eerie second before a big storm hits, just before the wind swoops through and brings in the hard rain.

Read more on Literature