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

In 2019 nearly 60 scientists and crew members set sail in the icebreaker Nathaniel B. Palmer for Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

The Lincoln, normally based in San Diego, set sail in November for a routine deployment to the Pacific.

From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026

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

From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026

Rob Donald and his 19-year-old daughter Freya set sail from New South Wales, Australia in March 2025, heading for Norway.

From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026

Then, on December 5, a little more than two weeks before Midsummer’s Day, Endurance set sail from Grytviken.

From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong