What does it mean: by and large

Question

seems to mean "in general", but why "by" and "large"? I don't get it.

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[nq:1]seems to mean "in general", but why "by" and "large"? I don't get it.[/nq]
You're correct. It is an idiom - idioms are often not susceptible to logical analysis because they often arose in a particular context (perhaps as an abbreviation) but we have no idea what the original context was - you might as well ask why English speakers call a particular plant a "tree", whereas German speakers use the word "Baum" and Gaelic speakers use the word "crann".
Regards, Einde O'Callaghan

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[nq:1]seems to mean "in general", but why "by" and "large"? I don't get it.[/nq]Imagine a ship at sea travelling west. If the wind were blowing from exactly north or south, sideways on, it was said to be on the beam, (the beam being the side of the ship at its widest point, usually by the mainmast). If the wind was blowing from any point in the half-circle eastward of the line from north to south, from nearer the stern, the ship was said to be sailing large. This comes from the idea of something being unrestricted, allowing considerable freedom (as in a fugitive being ?at large?), because ships sailing large were able to maintain their direction of travel anywhere in a wide arc without needing to make continual changes to the set of the sails.
To some extent sailing ships were able to make progress into the wind, that is, with it blowing from forward of the beam. Those with good handling capabilities could get within five or six points of the wind (there are 32 compass points in a complete circle). In such cases, the ship was said to be sailing by the wind, by here having the sense of ?towards?. If the ship were pointed closely into the wind, but with some margin for error in case the wind changed direction slightly, it was said to be full and by (sailing by the wind with her sails full of wind), or close-hauled, because the lower corners of the main sails were all drawn as close as possible down to her side to windward.
If the helmsman by mistake turned the ship closer to the direction of the wind than it was capable of sailing, the wind would press the sails back against the masts, stopping the ship dead in the water and possibly breaking the masts off; in this case the ship was taken aback, the maritime source of another common metaphor. You will appreciate that a ship could either sail large or it could sail by the wind, but never both at the same time. The phrase by and large in sailors? parlance referred to all possible points of sailing, so it came to mean ?in all possible circumstances?.
You can see how that could have become converted in layman?s language into a sense of ?all things being considered?.
http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-bya1.htm

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]seems to mean "in general", but why "by" and "large"? I don't get it.[/nq]
[nq:1]You're correct. It is an idiom - idioms are often not susceptible to logical analysis because they often arose in a particular context (perhaps as an abbreviation) but we have no idea what the original context was[/nq]
This is a gross generalisation.
Adrian

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[nq:2]You're correct. It is an idiom - idioms are often ... but we have no idea what the original context was[/nq]
[nq:1]This is a gross generalisation.[/nq]
OK - I had no idea until John Ings explained it. But many idioms have an unknown origin and are not subject to logical explanation.

Regards, Einde O'Callaghan

Usenet · Answer

: : : BY AND LARGE "The sailor's way of describing a passage which included bad days of headwinds when the vessel would have to be sailed BY the wind, and good days when the LARGE or square sails could be used giving more comfort and a better speed. (Sailing 'large' was to sail with the wind abaft the beam.) From "Salty Dog Talk: The Nautical Origins of Everyday Expressions" by Bill Beavis and Richard G. McCloskey (Sheridan House, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., 1995. First published in Great Britain, 1983).

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[nq:1]: BY AND LARGE "The sailor's way of describing a passage which included bad days of headwinds when the ... Expressions" by Bill Beavis and Richard G. McCloskey (Sheridan House, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., 1995. First published in Great Britain, 1983).[/nq]
This explanation is quite simple and easy to remember.

The sailors can sail BY the winds and by the LARGE sails. In other words, they can sail under bad and good conditions, or under any and all conditions.

What does it mean: by and large

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