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

The boat, carrying several former British military officers and four Chagossian men, set sail from Sri Lanka and took nearly two weeks to arrive, anchoring Monday morning about 150 yards offshore from the Île du Coin, a half-square-mile island.

From The Wall Street Journal

It had set sail from Murmansk in northern Russia and was flying under a Comoros flag, officials said.

From BBC

It had set sail from Russia's Far East for China in early November.

From BBC

The sample was collected by a deep-sea scientific drilling boat called the Chikyu that set sail last month for the remote island of Minami Torishima in the Pacific, where surrounding waters are believed to contain a rich trove of valuable minerals.

From Barron's

“All right. I’d like to wave my hankie as we set sail. A transatlantic voyage to escape German invasion. It’s all so exciting!”

From Literature