词汇 | trim (one's) sails |
释义 | trim (one's) sails1. To adapt oneself to new or altered circumstances. Following the attack, many politicians trimmed their sails and adopted a more aggressive stance on military action. 2. To spend less money; to decrease one's expenses. Our rent is much higher, so we've had to trim our sails a bit, but we love living in this area. trim one's sailsModify one's stand, adapt to circumstances, as in His advisers told him to trim his sails before he alienated voters and bungled the election completely . This metaphoric expression alludes to adjusting a ship's sails to take full advantage of prevailing winds. [Late 1700s] trim your sailsmake changes to suit your new circumstances.Literally, trim a sail means ‘adjust the sail of a boat to take advantage of the wind’. ˌtrim your ˈsails1 arrange the sails of a boat to suit the wind so that the boat moves faster 2 reduce your costs: Increasingly, businesses are having to trim their sails in order to survive. |
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