Perhaps you?ve heard the phrases ?square meal?, ?feeling blue? or ?by and large? spoken many times in your life, but have you ever wondered where they came from and how they came to be? This post from ASA reveals that these and many others used to be common phrases in sailing. Read below and learn 10 phrases that originated from a sailor?s tongue.

Many thanks to Pat Reynolds for creating this phrase list. For more interesting top lists and articles like this, head over to American Sailing Association.

10. ?A clean bill of health?
This phrase derives from the days when the crew of ocean going ships might be a little less than hygienic, so they needed to present a certificate, carried by a ship, attesting to the presence or absence of infectious diseases among the ship?s crew and at the port from which it has come. (Dictionary.com)

9. ?Feeling Blue?
This phrase comes from a custom that was practiced when a ship lost its captain during a voyage. The ship would fly blue flags and have a blue band painted along her hull when she returned to port. (See-the-sea.org)

8. ?Pipe down?
Pipe Down was the last signal from the Bosun?s pipe each day, which meant lights-out, quiet down, time to go to bed.

7. ?Over a barrel?
This phrase began in the most literal way when a crew would sometimes be punished for their misgivings and tied over a cannon barrel and whipped.

6. ?Toe the line?
It?s an old naval expression that refers to a ship?s crew who would be called to gather and form a line with their toes all touching a given seam (or line) of the deck planking.

5. ?By and large?
This term got started on a sailboat with the word ?by? meaning into the wind and?large? meaning off the wind. So sailors would say: ?By and large this ship handles quite nicely.?

4. ?Loose cannon?
The term comes from when a ship?s cannon would come loose from it?s lashing. The big dangerous thing would be sliding all over the place making for some uncomfortable time on deck trying to get that bad boy back in its spot.

3. ?A square meal?
It is said to derive from the square platters on which meals were served on board ship.

2. ?Hand over fist?
In sailing, this phrase used to have a more literal origin ? sailors would be tugging at lines as fast as they could, hand over fist, to trim sheets and raise sails.

1. ?Son of a gun?
Back in the day, as you might imagine, sailors were often less than virtuous and every once in a while a ?lady friend? of a crewman might give birth to a child on the ship. A good spot for this sort of thing was between the guns on the gun deck.