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

A month later, the Resolution and another ship, the Adventure, set sail under Cook’s command to the southern oceans in search of a hitherto unknown continent, fancifully known as Terra Australis Incognita.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

It set sail from the German island of Rügen, headed for the middle of the Baltic.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 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

HMS Erebus, captained by Sir John Franklin, set sail in 1845.

From BBC ● May 26, 2026

A look at the vessels preparing to set sail revealed why.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood