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sail close to the wind
Idioms and Phrases
Be on the verge of doing something illegal or improper, as in She was sailing pretty close to the wind when she called him a liar . This term alludes to the danger incurred when literally sailing too close to (that is, in the direction of) the wind. Its figurative use dates from the first half of the 1800s.Example Sentences
Fox, who hosts a weekly show on GB News and made the remarks while appearing as a contributor on Wootton's programme on Tuesday, does usually "sail close to the wind", the chief executive said.
He called for television that is "confrontational, surprising and upsetting", and urged producers: "Take risks. Sail close to the wind."
German football club Kaiserlautern and Danish side FC Copenhagen both sail close to the wind with the abbreviation âFCKâ, while a new handball venue in Lund, Sweden, was christened the FÀrs och Frosta Sparbanken Arena â or FFS Arena for short.
Of course, politicians, like most humans, at times sail close to the wind, and sometimes for understandable reasons â personal, security, confidentiality.
The taxpayer should worry that this systemically important financial institution continues to sail close to the wind.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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