trim one's sails

Modify one's stand, adapt to circumstances, as in His advisers told him to trim his sails before he alienated voters and bungled the election completely . This metaphoric expression alludes to adjusting a ship's sails to take full advantage of prevailing winds. [Late 1700s]

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Somayeh	-	Persian
Kaylyn	KAY-lin	English (Modern)
Kunegunda	kuw-ne-GUWN-dah	Polish
Constance	KAHN-stənts (English), kawn-STAWNS (French)	English, French
Ascott	['æskət]
Swain	[swein]