full sail
Americannoun
adverb
-
with all sails set.
The ship was moving ahead full sail.
-
rapidly; forcefully.
He proceeded full sail despite our objections.
adverb
adjective
Other Word Forms
- full-sailed adjective
Etymology
Origin of full sail
First recorded in 1585–95
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Among the vignettes arrayed across the background plane are a ship at full sail, another docked and being unloaded, a lighthouse and a sacrifice.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 22, 2025
“Make yourself at home,” the midwife said, as I hove into the birthing room like a galleon in full sail.
From The Guardian • Feb. 13, 2019
With its curved windows and white-tiled crested roof, the Elbphilharmonie dynamically contrasts with its sturdy, utilitarian brick foundation — a former cocoa warehouse — evoking a ship in full sail.
From New York Times • Jan. 10, 2017
Her voice grew gentle, almost maternal—it was like watching the wind drop out of the world, flattening a full sail.
From The New Yorker • Jun. 1, 2015
Privately he paid still more to the captain to make sure they would travel at full sail, no matter the weather.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
