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.

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

set sail

"Our main concern is his arrival won't be safe," she told AFP from Malaysia, requesting anonymity for security reasons after losing contact with her brother before the vessels set sail.

From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026

Soon she set sail from Catania to Latin America in search of a better future.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

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

From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026

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

I must prepare everything, then bring him in and lash him well and step the mast and set sail for home.

From "The Old Man and The Sea" by Ernest Hemingway