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Phrase(s): three sheets in the wind [and] three sheets (to the wind); two sheets to the wind
Inf. intoxicated and unsteady. (Sheets are the ropes used to manage a ship’s sails. It is assumed that if these ropes were blowing in the wind, the ship would be out of control.) • He had gotten three sheets to the wind and didn’t pay attention to my warning. • By midnight, he was three sheets.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs