Meaning of sea legs | Babel Free

Definitions

1. The ability, when walking aboard a ship, to anticipate the motion of the deck so as to walk steadily without losing balance.
   idiomatic, plural, plural-only
2. The ability to travel by ship without becoming seasick.
   idiomatic, plural, plural-only
3. Synonym of crabsticks.
   US, plural, plural-only, rare
4. The ability to partially or fully inhabit a marine environment.
   idiomatic, plural, plural-only

Equivalents

Examples

“to get⟳/find⟳ one's sea legs”

“Jasper would find⟳ his sea-legs in a fortnight, and a twelvemonth's v'y'ge would make⟳ him a man.”

“[…] and hear⟳ poor Mr Tapley, in his wandering fancy, playing at skittles in the Dragon, making love-remonstrances to Mrs Lupin, getting his sea-legs on board⟳ the Screw, travelling with old Tom Pinch on English roads, and burning stumps of trees in Eden, all at once.”

“Our passengers hailed from fifteen states; only a few of them had ever been to sea before; manifestly it would not do to pit them against a full-blown tempest until they had got their sea-legs on.”

“Had a refreshing walk⟳ up and down the quarter-deck, though I have⟳ hardly found my sea-legs yet.”

“It was fortunate for the passengers that most of them had at this period of the voyage got their sea legs; otherwise walking on the slippery deck, that seemed to heave as the rolling of the vessel threw its slopes up or down, would have⟳ been impossible.”

“When the ship was pitching or rolling, work⟳ would be difficult; but even then, when the Colonists get⟳ their sea-legs, and are free from the qualmishness which overtakes landsmen when first getting afloat, I cannot see⟳ why they should not engage⟳ in some form⟳ of industrial work⟳ far more profitable than yawning and lounging about the deck, to say⟳ nothing of the fact that by so doing they would lighten the expense of their transit.”

“So, from the Jurassic Period to today, the problems that come⟳ with being secondarily aquatic seem to have⟳ had the same kinds of solutions. And what we've learned is that it's no easy task to get⟳ your sea legs. But once you do, it's smooth sailing.”

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