three sheets to the wind

1. To be “three sheets to the wind” is to be drunk. The sheet is the line that controls the sails on a ship. If the line is not secured, the sail flops in the wind, and the ship loses headway and control. If all three sails are loose, the ship is out of control.

Idioms and Phrases

Also, three sheets in the wind. Drunk, inebriated, as in After six beers he's three sheets to the wind. This expression is generally thought to refer to the sheet—that is, a rope or chain—that holds one or both lower corners of a sail. If the sheet is allowed to go slack in the wind, the sail flaps about and the boat is tossed about much as a drunk staggers. Having three sheets loose would presumably make the situation all the worse. Another explanation holds that with two or four sheets to the wind the boat is balanced, whereas with three it is not. [Mid-1800s]

Example Sentences

CNN founder Ted Turner delivers slurred speeches and appears “to be three sheets to the wind.”

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“Naw. He was three sheets to the wind. If I’d of been the bartender at the Oak Room he wouldn’t have noticed.”

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It told the story of Cassie, a med-school dropout on a mission to attract and ultimately school sexual predators by hanging out at nightclubs pretending to be three sheets to the wind.

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And then there were the very difficult scenes for me to watch where my father is either three sheets to the wind or convincingly appearing so.”

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He said they were “three sheets to the wind,” according to one tweet.

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Related Words

• stoned 
• tipsy