When sailors were seasick, they were sent below deck to find shelter from storms. This literally placed them under the weather to recover.

In the age of sail, novice crew members had to memorize the names and functions of hundreds of individual ropes to operate a ship's complex rigging system safely.

Sheets are ropes that control a ship's sails. If three are loose, the vessel staggers uncontrollably, mimicking the unsteady movements of an intoxicated person.

A clean bill of health was a document certifying that a ship's port of departure was free of plague, allowing the crew to bypass a mandatory quarantine period.

Royal Navy sailors stood with their toes touching a specific seam in the deck planks during muster to ensure they formed a straight line and demonstrated discipline.

The expression originated in the 19th century and refers to the literal act of pulling back on a horse's reins to slow or stop its movement.

The idiom is traced to Ivan Krylov's 1814 fable about a man who notices tiny insects in a museum but fails to see a giant elephant.

The phrase likely refers to a medieval scam where a cat was substituted for a piglet in a bag. If the cat escaped, the seller's secret was revealed to the buyer.

The idiom stems from an ancient belief that crocodiles weep while eating. In reality, they produce tears to lubricate their eyes, often while consuming prey.

The term likely refers to the goosebumps and chills experienced during drug withdrawal, which resemble the skin of a cold, plucked turkey.