What Does Three Sheets To The Wind Mean

Three sheets to the wind adjective drunk.

The term was one used by sailors many years ago who had a sheet scale to measure drunkenness in each other. The phrase is these days more often given as three sheets to the wind rather than the original three sheets in the wind. A sheet in the wind. The phrase three sheets to the wind is used to describe extreme intoxication.

If all three sails are loose the ship is out of control. If the 3 ropes used were loose in the wind the sail would flop around causing the ship to wobble around much like a drunk. Origin of this english idiom the phrase three sheets to the wind originally comes from a nautical background. On a boat the ropes that control the position of the sails are called sheets.

The sheet in the phrase uses the nautical meaning of a rope that controls the trim of sail. Wiktionary 5 00 2 votes rate this definition. The sheet is the line that controls the sails on a ship. Three sheets to the wind not comparable drunk.

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If someone is three sheets to the wind they are drunk. Three sheets to the wind. Four sheets to the wind. In the sailing world the word sheet actually refers to a rope not the sail it controls although some nautical sources suggest the word did once refer to the corners of a sail.

To be explicitly drunk. Three sheets to the wind. These are fixed to the lower corners of sails to hold them in place. The original expression was actually three sheets in the wind not to the wind.

See synonyms for three sheets to the wind on thesaurus com. It would begin to shudder and stagger much like a drunk. The sheets here refer to the sails of a windmill rather than bed linen. The ship would then lose speed and control.

To be three sheets to the wind is to be drunk. If three sheets are loose and blowing about in the wind then the sails will flap and the boat will lurch about like a drunken sailor. The meaning of the term three sheets to the wind is to be very drunk. If the line is not secured the sail flops in the wind and the ship loses headway and control.

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When loose the sheets otherwise known as ropes would let the sails go slack. Means a sailing ship in disarray its sheets flapping loosely in the breeze. He s probably three sheets to the wind down at toby s wondering where he left his truck. Don t drink too much tonight you were three sheets to the wind last weekend this expression is used to describe someone who is drunk to the point of being unable to stand up straight.

Four sheets in the wind. Derived from sailing ships.