the.com/by and large
The hedge you reach for when 'always' is too brave and 'sometimes' too weak.
means Considering everything overall, mostly or generally speaking.
from A sailing term: 'full and by' meant sailing close to the wind (by), while 'large' meant sailing with the wind coming from behind at an angle (off the wind). To sail 'by and large' was to handle a ship well across both points of sail — a test of a ship's and crew's all-around capability. The phrase drifted ashore in the 1700s and loosened into its modern sense of 'considering everything, in general.'
- origin
- 18th-century sailing term for ships handling wind both ways
- literal meaning
- by (into wind) and large (with wind) combined
- irony
- a nautical phrase that now means roughly, generally
- usage
- favorite filler of people avoiding a firm opinion