lash oneself to the mast

English

Alternative forms

• tie oneself to the mast

Etymology 1

From the practice of tying oneself to the mast of a sailing ship in rough weather so as not to be swept overboard.

Verb

lash oneself to the mast (third-person singular simple present lashes oneself to the mast, present participle lashing oneself to the mast, simple past and past participle lashed oneself to the mast)

1. To continue in a course of action even when facing great difficulties and likely disaster.
   • 2010, Robert A. Heinlein, Spider Robinson, Variable Star:

     I hoped not—all authorities seemed to agree the only thing a man could do in such weather was lash himself to the mast and pray. I made a last stubborn attempt to pour logic on the troubled waters.

   • 2010, Gus Russo, Stephen Molton, Brothers in Arms:

     At the same time, even as he and Bobby still plot to overthrow Fidel, they are at odds over whether to dump Vietnam's president Diêm overboard, or lash him to the mast and ride out the gale blowing in from Vietnam.

   • 2012, Rushton Beech, Only the Moon Rages, page 56:

     She was not going to allow Gregory Winston Fallows to throw his life—and hers—away. Whatever demons were torturing him, she vowed that she would lash herself to the mast and hold on.

   • 2012, Paul D. Escott, Many Excellent People, page 47:

     Vance did not have to lash himself to the mast of the sinking Confederate ship and go down nobly to principled defeat.

   • 2019 November 27, Alex Henderson, “Watergate shows unwavering devotion to Trump will not end well for ‘all the president’s men’”, in AlterNet:

     Kruse, in a Vanity Fair article published on November 27, writes that during the impeachment inquiry presently taking place in the U.S. House of Representatives, “Trump loyalists” have “lashed themselves to the presidential mast” — and Kruse stresses that “if Watergate is an American parable, most of them will go down too.”

Etymology 2

A reference to the scene in Homer's Odyssey in which Odysseus has his men lash him to the mast so that he will not succumb to the lure of the Sirens.

Verb

lash oneself to the mast (third-person singular simple present lashes oneself to the mast, present participle lashing oneself to the mast, simple past and past participle lashed oneself to the mast)

1. To resist the temptation to make a bad choice.
   • 2002, Bernardine Bishop, Ideas in Practice, page 34:

     The only way in which she could contain her despairing and murderous rage was to lash herself to the mast of her towering superego.

   • 2007, Alice Greenway -, White Ghost Girls:

     Maybe because he's deaf, he won't have to lash himself to the mast to avoid our cries.

   • 2010, John O'Farrell, The Best a Man Can Get:

     I had shown her written proof of what I kept saying to her: that she shouldn't rush straight to the baby every time it cried, that she had to try and steel herself, to lash herself to the mast and endure her baby's sobbing while it learned to fall asleep on its own.

   • 2013, Wendy James, The Steele Diaries:

     He says that women need to bite the bullet, to sacrifice all their security, their comfort, their children even, for art. Women need to be prepared to lash themselves to the mast of a boat, like Turner, just to see what it's like.