take the wind out of someone's sails

Language: en

Meaning: (idiomatic)Todiscouragesomeone greatly; to cause someone to losehopeor thewilltocontinue; tothwartorminimizesomeone's ambitions.c.1860,Louisa May Alcott,Aunt Kipp:"I tell you Van Bahr Lamb is a fool."[…]But Polly[…]completelytook the wind out of her sails, by coolly remarking,— "I like fools."1922,Frances Hodgson Burnett, chapter 31, inThe Head of the House of Coombe:Could he have some elderly idea of wanting a youngster for a wife? Occasionally an old chap did. Serve him right if some young chaptook the wind out of his sails.1990May 27,Serge Schmemann, “German rightist quits after party suffers setback”, inNew York Times, retrieved17 July 2011:[T]he Republicans[…]have been repeatedly battered in the polls since German unification became a mainstream German concern andtook the wind out of their sails.2011April 14, “Quotes of the Day”, inTime:"Ittook the wind out of our sails," he says. "I had no Plan B. I was a wreck."2023, “Let the Sun Come In”, inRelentless, performed byThe Pretenders:A bunch of myths, a bunch of tales / Totake the wind out of our sails/ They even say that we must die / I don't believe it, that's a lie

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