SAIL in a Sentence

Learn SAIL from example sentences; some of them are from classic books. These examples are selected from a corpus with 300,000 sentences, including classic works and current mainstream media. Some sentences also link to their contexts.

274 example sentences for SAIL, such as:

1. The ship sails for Shanghai tomorrow.
2. A stiff breeze made the sails bag out.
3. The Dutch fleet is sailing up the Thames.
4. Hoisting sail, it glided down the Acushnet river.
5. American clippers were the ultimate sailing ships.

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 Meanings and Examples of SAIL
Definition Example Sentence Classic Sentence
sail
 v.  travel on water in a ship or boat
 n.  a piece of material extended on a mast to catch the wind
Classic Sentence: (210 in 15 pages)
1  But afterwards, when the old stalwarts were pumphandling everybody at the door and calling 'em 'Brother' and 'Sister,' they let me sail right by with nary a clinch.'
Main Street By Sinclair Lewis
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXVI
2  I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 1. Loomings.
3  For my mind was made up to sail in no other than a Nantucket craft, because there was a fine, boisterous something about everything connected with that famous old island, which amazingly pleased me.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 2. The Carpet-Bag.
4  He was trying his hand at a ship under full sail, but he didn't make much headway, I thought.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 3. The Spouter-Inn.
5  'We sail with the next coming tide,' at last he slowly answered, still intently eyeing him.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 9. The Sermon.
6  For it is particularly written, shipmates, as if it were a thing not to be overlooked in this history, 'that he paid the fare thereof' ere the craft did sail.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 9. The Sermon.
7  For the nonce, however, he proposed to sail about, and sow his wild oats in all four oceans.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 12. Biographical.
8  Upon this, I told him that whaling was my own design, and informed him of my intention to sail out of Nantucket, as being the most promising port for an adventurous whaleman to embark from.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 12. Biographical.
9  Hoisting sail, it glided down the Acushnet river.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 13. Wheelbarrow.
10  And once for all, let me tell thee and assure thee, young man, it's better to sail with a moody good captain than a laughing bad one.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 16. The Ship.
11  But it seems they always give very long notice in these cases, and the ship did not sail for several days.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 20. All Astir.
12  At last it was given out that some time next day the ship would certainly sail.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 20. All Astir.
13  In most American whalemen the mast-heads are manned almost simultaneously with the vessel's leaving her port; even though she may have fifteen thousand miles, and more, to sail ere reaching her proper cruising ground.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 35. The Mast-Head.
14  I leave a white and turbid wake; pale waters, paler cheeks, where'er I sail.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 37. Sunset.
15  From hand to hand, the buckets went in the deepest silence, only broken by the occasional flap of a sail, and the steady hum of the unceasingly advancing keel.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 43. Hark!
Example Sentence: (64 in 5 pages)
16  The boat leaves Liverpool on the fifteenth, but before we set sail(for New York) I have to spend a few days in Scotland.
17  Part of the little raft's belongings consisted of an old sail, and this they spread over a nook in the bushes for a tent to shelter their provisions; but they themselves would sleep in the open air in good weather, as became outlaws.
18  "Let the stormy winds bluster," cried Jack, "we'll set sail tonight anyway."
19  I am optimistic enough to hope that we shall sail in comparatively smooth waters.
20  A stiff breeze made the sails bag out.
21  The windmill's sails are wooden vanes whose angle can be adjusted from inside the mill.
22  The sails are not answering to our pull on the ropes.
23  The ship sails for Shanghai tomorrow.
24  A spokesman says that Russia believes a prototype spacecraft powered by solar sails has been lost because of a malfunction during its launch.
25  They hope to show that solar sails could replace traditional rockets and propel spacecraft to the stars.
26  American clippers were the ultimate sailing ships.
27  Sometimes she fantasized about buying a boat and sailing around the world.
28  It is hard to avoid stormy waves when you are sailing in rivers;and it is hard to avoid brambles when you are climbing rugged mountains.
29  I looked at the motley bunch we were sailing with and began to feel uneasy about the trip.
30  The Dutch fleet is sailing up the Thames.