The activity of traveling in a boat powered by wind acting on sails. Also means moving smoothly and easily through something.
From Old English 'segl' (sail) plus the gerund suffix. The concept dates to ancient maritime cultures who first harnessed wind power for transportation across water.
Sailing gave us the phrase 'take the wind out of someone's sails,' which originally described a naval tactic where one ship would position itself to block another's wind. Modern sailing still relies on the same basic physics that ancient mariners discovered - using wind direction and sail angle to move efficiently through water.
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