Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SAIL, v.i.

1. To be impelled or driven forward by the action of wind upon sails, as a ship on water. A ship sails from New York for Liverpool. She sails ten knots an hour. She sails well close-hauled.
2. To be conveyed in a vessel on water; to pass by water. We sailed from London to Canton.
3. To swim. Little dolphins, when they sail / In the vast shadow of the British whale. – Dryden.
4. To set sail; to begin a voyage. We sailed from New York for Havre, June 15, 1824. We sailed from Cowes for New York, May 10, 1825. – N. W.
5. To be carried in the air, as a balloon.
6. To pass smoothly along. As is a wing'd messenger from heaven, / When he bestrides the lazy pacing clouds, / And sails upon the bosom of the air. – Shak.
7. To fly without striking with the wings.