Sailing Terms | Everything You Need to Know

Perhaps because the sea has played such an important part in the birthplace of the English language, there are many words, phrases, and idioms in common use that trace their origin to sailing.

Whenever you “give way,” “jump ship,” or tell someone to “pipe down,” you are reflecting this rich history of sailing terms in English.

Common sailing terms

Let’s look at some common sailing terms that are also used in everyday English:

• Adrift:  A boat without power or wind will be adrift and impossible to control.
• Anchor: A large metal implement attached to a rope or chain to keep the boat in a fixed place, and in everyday use the place where something is attached (e.g., an “anchor point” in a document).
• Course: Plotting a course is a vital skill in sailing, and in normal usage we can be on course or off course.
• Dock: Whether it’s connecting your iPod (remember those?) via its dock connector or the location of app icons on your Mac computer, a dock is a place where something movable is secured.
• Deck: You might grill on your backyard deck on a beautiful summer’s day, but this term draws its name from the floor of a ship.
• Fathom: A fathom is a measurement of the depth of water equivalent to six feet.
• Figurehead: A large carved wooden sculpture at the very front of a sailing ship.
• Fore: When something “comes to the fore,” it comes to the front, which on a ship is called “fore.”
• Harbor: A port with safe anchorage for boats, and now by extension any safe place.
• Helm: A new CEO might “take the helm,” but the genuine helm is a wheel or tiller on a ship.
• Jerry-rigged or jury-rigged: If the proper rigging is damaged or unavailable, make-do solutions are used.
• Keel: The keel helps to keep a boat upright and prevent it from “keeling over.”
• Leeway: The lee side of a ship is the one facing away from the wind. A lack of leeway puts the ship in danger of being blown onto the shore.
• Mooring: A place on a dock or shore where you can tie up (“moor”) your vessels. If you “lose your moorings,” you are drifting without purpose or control.
• Port: Either the left-hand side or a harbor, and by extension now, a place where something fits (e.g., “USB port”).
• Rudder: The relatively small part of the boat that is moved to control the direction of travel. If you are “rudderless,” then you are drifting without direction.
• Scupper: A scupper allows water to pass from the deck back to the sea. It is also a verb meaning to deliberately sink your own vessel, and it is in this sense that we talk about our plans “being scuppered.”
• Scuttlebutt: A scuttle is an opening on a ship that can be closed (“portholes” are more correctly termed “scuttles”). A scuttlebutt is a barrel (or “butt”) with a closeable opening used to store drinking water on sailing ships of the past. The often gossipy conversations that take place around this barrel are known as scuttlebutt; these days, they take place around the office watercooler.
• Thwart: A thwart is a seat or structure that goes across from one side of a boat to another (the seat a rower sits on is called a thwart). As such, it gets in the way or thwarts your progress if you try to move along the length of a boat.
• Way: If a vessel is underway, then it is not moored or at anchor; if it is making way, then it is moving relative to the water. Rights of way determine which boats have priority in particular situations and which ones have to give way.

Common sailing idioms

There are many idioms that have made their way from sailing to everyday life. Here is a list of some of the most common:

• Above board: Not necessarily a sailing term (board used to mean “table,” as in “board and lodging” and “sideboard”), but anything carried out above board—on the main deck—is open to inspection.
• Action stations: When a warship is at action stations, then the normal routine of being on-watch and off-watch doesn’t apply. Each crew member has a battle role to play.
• All hands on deck: A crisis or emergency on a boat would prompt the signal for all hands on deck. It has a very up-to-date use in the world of online meetings when a business has an “all hands” call.
• Aloof: Originally, aloof meant “to the windward side,” and to “steer aloof” would help to keep a hazard at a safe distance. Now we mean someone is standoffish if they are aloof.
• Bail out: A business or bank might be bailed out of financial difficulties, and this term comes from the nautical practice of using a bucket to remove water from the inside of a vessel—in other words, desperate measures to prevent the ship from sinking.
• Ballast: A heavy load carried not for trade but to provide weight in a ship’s hull.
• Batten down the hatches: Ships need to keep out water to stay afloat, but in rough weather waves will often crash over the gunwales. This isn’t a problem, as the scuppers (holes or openings at deck level) allow the water to return to the sea. However, if the hatches that seal the inside of the boat are not closed, then water will enter and the boat will be in danger. In rough weather, the hatches are closed with sturdy lengths of wood, or battens, so preparation for a storm or rough weather includes an order to batten down the hatches.
• Bitter end: A rope, chain, or cable usually has two ends; the live end is attached to a sail, anchor, or other movable feature. The other end is secured to a bollard or “bit,” and when the person paying out the rope is about to run out, they are coming to the bitter end.
• Blog: It might not be immediately obvious, but blog (and its younger cousin vlog) have their roots in naval terminology. Everything that happens on a ship is recorded in a book called the “log book” (also true for the Starship Enterprise!). The log (an actual wooden log) was towed behind the ship to take speed readings, and the results were recorded in the log book. Blog is  a neologism (specifically, a portmanteau) from “web log”—i.e., a log, or record, kept on the World Wide Web. And vlog is a video log.
• Bulkhead: A dividing structure in a ship that now applies to airplanes and other vehicles or is used symbolically.
• By and large: Sailing by the wind means sailing close to the wind, and sailing large means running with the wind. In other words, by and large means “in general” as it applies to all modes of sailing.
• Carried away: If you deploy too much sail for the wind and your mast or rigging is broken, it has been carried away. Thus we get the meaning of taking something too far, with negative consequences.
• Change tack: If the wind is blowing in the same direction as you want to sail, then life is simple. If you need to sail the opposite way, then you need to tack—sail in a zig-zag pattern, a bit like a mountain pass zig-zagging up a steep slope. When you transition from the zig to the zag, then you change tack. The usual non-sailing use implies a significant change of direction, whereas in sailing, although there is indeed a significant change of direction, the overall direction remains unchanged.
• Cut and run: The normal procedure for getting underway is to untie all mooring ropes and set off. An urgent departure might lead you to simply cut the mooring ropes and get underway immediately.
• Headwinds: A headwind is an annoyance even when you’re away from the sea, but in a sailing boat it is a constant problem to be overcome.
• Dead in the water: An idea that is going nowhere is dead in the water like a ship without wind to power it.
• Even keel: When a ship is stable, it is on an even keel, and the same applies to a person or organization.
• Fathom out: Sailors would use a heavy lead plumb on a knotted rope to check the depth of water under the vessel. This depth was measured in fathoms, so when you “fathom out a problem,” you are assessing its depth.
• Founder: A boat that runs aground will probably founder (i.e., sink) unless it can be salvaged. In common use, a business, government, or career can founder.
• Giving a wide berth: Berth has two meanings on board ship: it is a sleeping space (“a four-berth RV”) and also the space taken up by a ship when moored. When we give something a wide berth, we leave plenty of space between us and it.
• Going overboard: Going overboard from a vessel is a disaster. Any sizeable ship is extremely difficult to turn around, and in the vastness of the ocean, it is very challenging to keep a small head bobbing in the waves in sight to effect a rescue. So, going overboard has serious consequences.
• Hand over fist: The quick way of climbing a rope on board ship was to go hand over fist, a saying that now describes any particularly fast progress.
• Head: The name for the lavatory on a sailing ship, still used today, was the head. It was nothing more than a seat enabling you to relieve yourself over the side of the ship, and the front, or head, was the logical place—the wind was always behind you, and the bow receives constant washing from the waves.
• High and dry: Running aground is bad enough, but if you make a really good job of it, you will be left high and dry—in other words, the tide will not be able to refloat your vessel, and it will need to be salvaged.
• Doldrums: The doldrums is a region of the Atlantic around the equator where it is common for ships to become becalmed by a lack of wind—often for days and sometimes weeks at a time. Now, people, economies, or businesses can be in the doldrums.
• Junk: Originally referring to leftover pieces of rope with no use, junk has a more general meaning now, including the junk folder in your email.
• Keel over: If something keels over, it turns upside down (or falls over). The keel is the “spine” of the ship, running along the bottom of the hull from front to back.
• Know the ropes: Someone who is skilled and knowledgeable in their work is said to know the ropes. The Royal Navy’s Manual of Seamanship dedicates 50 pages to ropes and knots, and knowing which ropes and knots to use is an essential skill in sailing.
• Listless: This has nothing to do with not having a to-do list! When a sailing boat is underway, it lists (i.e., leans) to one side. A listless boat is adrift and without energy, like a listless person.
• Loggerheads: A loggerhead was a stick with a heavy metal ball on the end. To apply tar to seal joints in the ship, it would be heated and dipped in a barrel of tar to melt it and apply it. The loggerhead also proved a handy and effective club-like weapon if the vessel was attacked, and the fighters could be said to be at loggerheads with each other.
• Loose cannon:  A cannon on a ship like Nelson’s Fighting Temeraire weighed up to four tons. If it broke loose, it could very quickly cause devastation and death. Today, a loose cannon is someone who is seen as uncontrolled and dangerous in a given situation.
• Lose your bearings: With no fixed points to navigate by, it is important for ships to keep on track and to not lose their bearings. To lose your bearings in everyday life is to be lost and without purpose.
• Mainstay: Ships’ masts had to be well-secured as they came under tremendous strain from the wind filling the sails. They were held in place by shrouds and stays. The stays held the mast fore and aft, and the mainstay was the main cable counteracting the great force of the wind pushing the ship forwards. As with modern usage, a mainstay was an essential part. Were it to fail, disaster would likely strike.
• Offing: The offing refers to the area of the sea that extends from the horizon to halfway between the horizon and the observer. When something is in the offing, it is at a distance but likely to be approaching.
• On board: When you are on a ship (in other words, with it), then you are on board. In everyday use you can be on board with an idea or a movement, and when you start a new job you might well be “onboarded” or go through the “onboarding” process.
• On the rocks: As long as we’re not talking about a drink, then if your plan or life is on the rocks, you have a serious problem.
• Overwhelm: Literally meaning to be submerged, we now use overwhelm to describe circumstances that become too much to cope with.
• Pipe down!: In the noise and confusion of a sailing warship at sea, an effective method of communication was via the boatswain’s (also spelt “bosun”) whistle. When it was time for the crew to cease work and bed down, then the pipe down signal would be given.
• Plumbing the depths: A heavy lead weight, or plumb (from “plumbum,” the Latin for “lead”), was used to check how deep the water was below a ship. In common use now, it means to go to the lowest possible place.
• Rummage: Originally, to rummage was to stow things in a ship’s hold, today, it means to  sort through disorganized items.
• Run aground: If you judge your depth incorrectly, then your ship can run aground, much as today your plans or business can run aground and be left high and dry.
• Saloon: Although its origin is in the French word salon for a large room, its first use in English was for a spacious room on board ship.
• Salvage: With its roots in a Latin word for “save,” salvage was originally applied to rescuing a ship that had foundered.
• Set sail: Originally, when you deploy the appropriate sails for starting your journey, you set those sails. Now, both at sea and on land, we set sail when we commence a journey.
• Shanghaied: the distant port of Shanghai was a common destination for a sailor who had been forced on board to sail the ship, or shanghaied.
• Ship-shape (and Bristol-fashion): When everything is neat and tidy, it is said to be ship-shape. With countless ropes and chains, neatness was paramount on a sailing vessel. Bristol harbor, in the UK, was known for its large tidal changes. At low tide, moored vessels would list heavily to one side, and anything not securely lashed down would slide out of position. So Bristol-fashion was an especially secure way of tying everything down.
• Shot across the bows: A naval vessel might fire in front of an unfriendly vessel to persuade it to stop. It was (and is in common usage) a warning.
• Skyscraper: Long before dizzyingly tall buildings started to appear in US cities, sailors were calling their tallest masts and sails skyscrapers.
• Sound out:  When we sound out our colleagues to see their reaction to an idea, we are using a sailing term referring to checking the depth of water below the ship.
• Stall: Long before car engines and airplanes were subject to stalling, sailing boats had to make sure they didn’t lose way by sailing too close to the wind and causing a stall.
• Stand by: Your electronic devices might be on standby, but the word itself comes from a vessel standing by to help another vessel if need be. The vessel will move to remain underway but will stay close to the other ship.
• Standoffish: Not itself a nautical term, but a ship can stand on or stand off the shore when it is moving toward or away from it, but only to keep its place.
• Stowaway: Originally meaning someone who has hidden in a ship’s hold to gain free passage somewhere, we now use it more generally.
• Swab: A swabber was a sailor who washed the decks down, and the swab was the mop that they used. Now it has a more general use too.
• Tackle: In the sailing context, tackle refers to the running gear (ropes, stays, and sheets) and now also has come to mean the bits and pieces you use for an activity (e.g., “fishing tackle”).
• Taken aback: If the wind shifts suddenly, or you sail too close to it, your sail can be blown backwards, or taken aback. This will halt or thwart your progress.
• Three sheets to the wind: A sheet is a rope that attaches a sail to the mast, boom, arms, or spar of the sailing boat’s rigging. On a square-rigged ship the four corners of the sail must be connected to the yardarms, and a ship with three loose sheets is wildly out of control. Hence, three sheets to the wind describes someone who is incapacitated through drinking.
• Tiding over: In the absence of wind, sailors would rely on the tide to move them along; it would tide them over in the same way we make do with the current situation until circumstances change.
• Toggle: The origin of toggle is a fastener used on a boat to connect two pieces of rope, allowing quick disconnection.
• Too close to the wind: Fast sailing ships are often prized for their ability to sail close to the wind. When tacking into the wind, the closer the bow points to the origin of the wind, the faster the progress. However, if you turn too close to the wind’s direction, the boat will stall and lose way. So, sailing close to the wind is both exhilarating and risky.
• Touch and go: When a vessel’s keel briefly grounds, but then the ship continues on its way, it was touch and go. The more general sense of a close call comes from this nautical origin.
• Trawl: We might trawl web pages for some information, but the original meaning is a type of fishing net dragged along the ocean floor by a fishing boat (or trawler).
• True colors: A ship’s colors are its identifying flags and ensigns. When identification technology was limited to telescopes, a ship might seek to come close to an enemy by flying “false flags” before finally revealing their true colors and attacking.
• Wake: When an athlete leaves all their rivals in their wake, this harks back to a Scandinavian word meaning “a hole in the ice” left by a boat.
• Walk back: It might be very modern for a politician to walk back an idea, but originally it meant to reverse the direction of a capstan (a rotating machine used to pull on a rope or chain), thus changing the direction of the rope or chain.

Frequently asked questions about sailing terms

What are some sailing terms that we use in everyday speech?

There are many sailing terms used in everyday speech in English. Words like “scuttlebutt” or “leeway” come from the rich heritage of sailing in the English-speaking world.

Probably because so much of England’s history (and that of the US) is based on naval superiority, sailing terms are everywhere. Some of the more common ones include:

• Adrift
• Leeway
• Scupper
• Scuttlebutt
• Aboveboard
• Aloof
• Junk
• Mainstay

You can use QuillBot’s AI Chat to check if a word or phrase has a nautical history.