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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

take the wind out of someone's sails en · VERB

Pronunciation

Etymology

Referring to the idea of a ship that intercepts the wind of another, causing it to slow or stop.

Meanings

  1. (idiomatic) To discourage someone greatly; to cause someone to lose hope or the will to continue; to thwart or minimize someone's ambitions.
    • "I tell you Van Bahr Lamb is a fool." […] But Polly […] completely took the wind out of her sails, by coolly remarking,— "I like fools." c. 1860, Louisa May Alcott, Aunt Kipp:
    • A bunch of myths, a bunch of tales / To take the wind out of our sails / They even say that we must die / I don't believe it, that's a lie 2023, “Let the Sun Come In”, in Relentless, performed by The Pretenders:
    • [T]he Republicans […] have been repeatedly battered in the polls since German unification became a mainstream German concern and took the wind out of their sails. 1990 May 27, Serge Schmemann, “German rightist quits after party suffers setback”, in New York Times, retrieved 17 Jul 2011:
    • "It took the wind out of our sails," he says. "I had no Plan B. I was a wreck." 2011 April 14, “Quotes of the Day”, in Time:
    • Could he have some elderly idea of wanting a youngster for a wife? Occasionally an old chap did. Serve him right if some young chap took the wind out of his sails. 1922, Frances Hodgson Burnett, chapter 31, in The Head of the House of Coombe:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
taken the wind out of someone's sails Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
knock the wind out of someone's sails alternative lexicographic
took the wind out of someone's sails Tense=Past lexicographic
takes the wind out of someone's sails Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
taking the wind out of someone's sails Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Relateds

cut the ground from under someone's feet · take the piss · pull the rug out from under

Synonyms

deflate · flummox · stultify · stymie · thwart

Translations (9)

it scoraggiare (to discourage someone) · de jemandem den Wind aus den Segeln nehmen (to discourage someone) · fi lannistaa (to discourage someone) · pl przygaszać (to discourage someone) · it remare contro (to discourage someone) · nl iemand de wind uit de zeilen nemen (to discourage someone) · pl przygasić (to discourage someone) · it disilludere (to discourage someone) · it mettere in ginocchio (to discourage someone)