| 单词 | to trim one's sails to the wind |
| 释义 | > as lemmasto trim one's sails to the wind c. transferred and figurative. To turn, adjust, adapt. Frequently in to trim one's sails to the wind, to adapt oneself to circumstances. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > order > agreement, harmony, or congruity > adaptation or adjustment > adapt or adjust [verb (transitive)] > bring into conformity > adjust to a standard or purpose trick1552 just1558 tune1581 pitch1624 adjust1636 justen1659 trim1779 the world > action or operation > behaviour > adaptability to circumstances > adapt to circumstances [verb (intransitive)] temporize1555 accommodate1597 localizea1631 to piece in1636 attemper1807 trim1888 adapt1910 reorient1916 adjust1924 to trim one's sails to the wind1928 to roll with the punches1956 1779 W. Cowper Pineapple & Bee 12 Having wasted half the day, He trimmed his flight another way. 1821 W. Scott Kenilworth III. ix. 177 He could scarce have missed shipwreck, knowing..so little how to trim his sails to a court gale. 1867 R. W. Emerson May-day & Other Pieces 142 As the bird trims her to the gale, I trim myself to the storm of time. 1898 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. V. 958 We must trim our treatment according to the phases and peculiarities of the individual. 1928 L. Strachey Elizabeth & Essex viii. 112 Burghley, trimming his sails to the changing wind, thought it advisable..to take the side of Essex in the matter of the Spanish ransoms. 1934 J. E. Neale Queen Elizabeth xiv. 229 She preferred to trim the country's sails to the winds when and how they blew, rather than set them at once for a storm that might not come. 1940 F. L. Allen Since Yesterday x. 275 Fortune..trimmed its sails so skillfully to the winds of conservatism that it not only became a mine of factual material for future historians but subtly broadened reactionary minds. < as lemmas |
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